


The Separation Effect

by marcelb



Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-29
Updated: 2013-11-03
Packaged: 2018-03-11 03:39:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 67,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3312527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marcelb/pseuds/marcelb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story about Leonard's expedition at the North Sea and his subsequent return. Primarily Lenny, but some Shamy, Howardette and Raj/OC.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Separation Effect

**Author's Note:**

> My first Big Bang Theory story. No beta's were harmed, mostly because my current BR is just too busy and I wanted to get it out.
> 
> First warning: English is not my first language. I hope I don't fry your brains if there are some really weird sentence constructs in here. If you feel like you could prevent other readers from fried brains, feel free to offer your beta-services.
> 
> Second warning: I'm currently working on chapter 9. Not all of them are 6.857 words, but the average chapter length does seem to be around 6000+ words (looking at other stories for other fandoms, it does seem to be my standard chapter size, though it really is just a coincidence). I plan on releasing two chapters per week, so that I have some time to write the rest of the story (which for all I know, could be chapter 10).
> 
> Anyway, I own nobody and nothing to do with the Big Bang Theory. I definitely do not make any money with this.

"Hi, honey," Penny answered her incoming Skype call, a smile forming as Leonard's face appeared. "How are you doing? Any sea sickness?"

"Hey, Penny. I'm doing great. No more sea sickness after the first few days."

"Dammit! Now I have to pay Howard." She was still smiling, and glad her boyfriend had gotten used to being at sea.

"You bet against me, did ya?"

She shrugged. "I had to go with the odds."

He laughed. "Yeah, I guess the chances of me being sick for the entire stay were a lot greater than me getting used to this movement in less than a week. Some of my colleagues are still not used to it."

"Aw, my boyfriend is becoming a tough sailor."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far. It's great I can do my work and experiments, but believe me, I have no desire to repeat this anytime soon."

Penny was glad to hear that. He'd only be gone for a little over a week and she missed him terribly.

"So, how are the guys doing? Is Sheldon driving you nuts already?"

Penny rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but surprisingly Raj turns out to be even worse. Ever since he found out he can talk to women without alcohol, he's been jabbering to me, Bernadette and Amy every chance he gets. Why can't you get some normal friends?"

*knock, knock, knock* "Penny" *knock, knock, knock* "Penny" *knock, knock, knock* "Penny"

"Sheldon, not now. I'm talking to Leonard."

"No! Why would you say that?"

Penny looked up at the door opening, Sheldon entering her apartment.

"Oh, good, I thought you'd be talking to Leonard tonight. I must speak with him. Leonard, did you..."

"Sheldon, I didn't invite you in. Go away. If Leonard has some time left, he'll talk to you."

"What gives you the right determine who gets to talk to my roommate and best friend?"

"He's my boyfriend and he called me." Penny moved her laptop to the side. "You got a problem with that?"

With satisfaction she saw Sheldon take a step back. "No, it's just a question. Coitus, even if it's over the internet, apparently trumps intelligent conversation."

"Exactly," Penny agreed, not bothering to mention there was no coitus over the internet. "Now, get out, or I can guarantee Leonard won't have any time left for you." She placed her laptop in front of her again as Sheldon closed the door behind him. "Sorry about that."

"No problem. Believe it or not, it's good to hear his voice. Helps me to remember just how annoying he can be."

Penny laughed at that. "No kidding. So, how are the experiments going?"

"Pretty good. Of course we just started, but we already had some cool results on one of the minor experiments."

"She really is your girlfriend?"

"Yes, Albert she is. Can I have some privacy, please?"

"Of course, sorry for the intrusion. I didn't realize you were having a private conversation."

"Sorry, that was Albert. He's a great guy, but has a propensity for just barging into a room without knocking."

"We should introduce Albert to Sheldon. They might learn something from each other. So, what did he mean me really being your girlfriend?"

"Some of my colleagues didn't believe you were my girlfriend. I only brought one picture of you, and it doesn't have me in it. I understand why they'd think that, though. I mean, if I'd seen any of them with a picture of just you, I wouldn't believe them if they said you were their girlfriend."

It pained her that Leonard still didn't have the confidence that he was an attractive guy, that he could really get any woman, if he showed such confidence. Then again, this way she didn't have to worry too much about losing him to someone else. "Maybe I should send you a couple of other pictures, with both of us in it."

"Nah, don't bother. They'd probably think they're just photoshopped. Besides, Albert saw me talking to you, and I'm sure the others will hear about it. So, what have you been up to?"

"Oh, the usual. Working at the Cheesecake Factory, going to acting class. We're thinking about doing another play in a few weeks, but we haven't decided on which one yet. I'm hoping we get to do a comedy one, with the entire group."

"I remember you mentioning you never performed in a comedy piece. I think you'll be great in a comedy role."

"Don't I wish. I'm terrible at comedy. I start laughing, get the timing wrong. At least the director can give me pointers on the right timing, and how to move or look."

"Well, I think you're a fantastic actress. You really were amazing in 'A Streetcar named Desire'. Even Sheldon was impressed."

Penny smiled, touched by Leonards unconditional support. "Thanks, honey. So, we only get a few minutes?"

"Yeah, our time is almost up, too. We won't be able to talk for three weeks, but at least we'll have half an hour then."

"Oh, Leonard, I don't want to wait that long. I've missed you so much this past week, and now I have to wait even longer to be able to talk to you."

"I know, but you agreed this was too great of an opportunity for me to miss out on."

Penny didn't care tears were now forming. "I know, and I'm really happy for you. It's just that... I love you and I miss having you around. I miss having you sleeping next to me."

He sighed. "Yeah, I miss all of that, too."

"You remember when you guys came back from the North Pole? I can tell you right now, the minute you get back I'm dragging you into my bedroom and show you exactly how much I missed you! And nothing will interfere with that plan this time."

"That...," he licked his lips. "That'd be good." He shook his head. "Why did I have to go and leave?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it hard on you."

He glanced around briefly and then said in a half whisper, "You made something hard alright."

Penny grinned. "You think it's easier on me?" It definitely wasn't. She'd reacted physically to his response. "In case you didn't know, you turn me on just as easily as I can turn you on."

"Maybe, but I'm not really in a position where I can do much about this."

"And I can?"

"Didn't Sheldon find the battery-operated chew toy?"

Penny laughed at the reference to Sheldon's find during the cleaning of her apartment. "Poor guy. Really hasn't got a clue when it comes to sex." She became serious again. "And for the record, that 'chew toy' is a poor-mans replacement for having you here with me." She meant every word of it.

"Thanks."

He looked shy again, like he wasn't sure she meant it. She would need to do something about it when he got back, Penny decided. After all this time he should know she wouldn't joke about something like this to him.

"Well, looks like our time is up. I'll mail you as often as I can, and we'll talk again in three weeks."

"Alright, honey. I love you." She blew him a kiss.

"I love you too. Just ask Sheldon to send me mail, since I won't be able to talk to him anytime soon."

"I'll tell him. Bye honey."

* * *

Penny just stared at the laptop, thinking about Leonard. They'd ended their short conversation almost half an hour ago, but she tried to relive the entire thing in her head, attempting to hold on to the image of his face, the sound of his voice.

It occurred to her she'd said 'I love you' to him again. Twice, actually. Up to just a week before he left, saying those words had terrified her. But she wasn't afraid anymore, not since she realized they'd be apart for four months.

And it hadn't been scary because she was unsure about her feelings for him, or his feelings for her. No, the thing that scared her the most was the fact that she felt so strongly about him, a much deeper love than she had ever felt for anyone. And she knew how much Leonard loved her.

But knowing they'd be apart for all that time, that's what made it clear to her she was being childish. There was nothing wrong with feeling deeply and strongly. Leonard had stayed with her, despite the fact she never told him how she felt, and he deserved better than that.

Nevertheless, having the words come out twice in less than fifteen minutes was still a surprise. Hopefully she wouldn't just ask him to marry her by accident, she thought with a smile, but then sobered and asked herself if it would be so terrible.

A knock on her door shook her from her reverie. She got up to open the door, knowing it wasn't wackadoodle number one, but fearing it'd be wackadoodle number two, mister 'talk your ears of'. She was relieved to find Bernadette on the other side of the door.

"Hey, how are you doing?"

"Hey, Bernadette. I'm doing alright, I guess." She invited her friend inside, suddenly feeling terrible she'd hardly taken the time to ask Bernadette how she'd been doing when Howard stayed in the International Space Station.

"Yeah? Because I remember how I felt when Howie went to the space station."

Penny nodded, pouring a glass of wine for her friend. "Well, I'm not overly happy, but I'll survive." She sat down next to her. "Listen, I just realized I really haven't been there when Howard went away."

"Penny, it's okay. I could talk to Howie almost every other day. Besides, if I hadn't gone through that, I wouldn't have known just how much it hurts."

"Yeah, it does hurt, so much. How did you deal with it?"

Bernadette raised her glass with a smile. "This certainly helps." She took a sip. "You just have to take it one day at a time. When you miss him the most, write him an email, or look at pictures, stuff like that. Most of all, spend a lot of time hanging out with your friends."

"You mean, like listening to Raj talk about anything and everything?" Penny barely suppressed a shudder.

"That wouldn't be my first choice, but if it helps you take your mind of Leonard being far away, why not?"

"Yeah, no. I'll find someone else to hang out with, like you or Amy. So, what's up with you guys?"

"Howie and I are looking at buying a condo together."

"Really? Still close by, right?"

Bernadette nodded. "Yeah. It'd be a little further away from my work, but it's only a few more minutes. We'd be closer to you guys, though."

Penny took a moment to think. "Are you talking about those condo's a couple of blocks over?"

"Yeah. Some of them have been on the market for a while now, and the prices have come down considerably."

* * *

_Hi Leonard,_

_I know we talked on Skype yesterday, but I felt the need to write to you. I don't know if you realized, but said 'I love you' to you twice yesterday. Don't worry, I'm not taking those words back :) I meant those words, just like I meant it when I told you in the car, just before you got out and left on that plane._

_After our talk I just sat here on my sofa, thinking and daydreaming about you. It was during that time that I realized about the I love you's, and how silly I've been for not telling you sooner. Because I did love you. I think I fell in love with you just a few months after I moved in across the hall._

_Don't ask me to explain why I couldn't tell you how I felt, because I'm not quite sure myself. I think it's because you're the first guy I feel so strongly about. Or maybe I was just an idiot (you better not agree with me, or you'll never see me naked again :) )_

_Anyway, I promise you I'm no longer keeping quiet about my feelings for you. You might actually get tired of hearing me tell you that all the time._

_So, yesterday Bernadette came over, trying to cheer me up. She actually succeeded, too. I told her I was sorry that I hadn't been there when Howard went to the ISS, for not realizing what a difficult time it must've been for her. But we had a good talk and she gave me some pointers on dealing with this whole you being away thing._

_One of the things she told me is to write you a lot, especially when I miss you, so here I am, writing this rather long email to you. And I got to tell you, Bernadette was right. Just writing this to you makes me feel closer to you. So expect a lot of mails like this._

_I love you, and I miss you._

_xoxoxo Penny_

* * *

_Hi Penny,_

_Let me start by telling you I don't mind long e-mails at all. I love reading your emails. As you know, my schedule doesn't allow me a lot of free time, at least not during hours you are awake and home, so being able to read your mails during my down time is the best thing. Well, besides actually being with you :)_

_I would never call you an idiot, because you aren't one. Some people just have a hard time talking about their feelings, and I respect that. I know you love me (though I didn't know your feelings started that early, wow) even if you still hadn't said it to me. You show your love to be me in all the things you do. You know the saying, actions speak louder than words? Well, you've practically been shouting your love at me, so don't worry about it._

_Like you did with Bernadette, I really underestimated how hard it is being away from someone you love so much. I can tell you I've really questioned my sanity the past few days. The weird thing is, practically nobody around me gets it. Except for Harry nobody here is in a relationship. The others just don't get it. Well, Samantha probably does; she just came out of a long term relationship. I guess she just deals with it by immersing herself in her work._

_I wish I had more time to write, but I have a report to finish :( I love you and I miss you, so much._

_xoxoxo Leonard_

"There's a girl there," Penny said out loud after reading Leonards reply. "And she's available."

* * *

Penny grabbed her laptop when she heard a Skype call coming in, and was surprised to see it was Leonard. She hit the 'answer' button and waited a few seconds for the video started. "Hey, that's a surprise. I thought we wouldn't be able to talk for another two and a half weeks?"

"Yeah, we're just waiting on an analysis. I figured I might as well hog the internet connection to talk to you while the numbers are being crunched. I know the other teams are busy and unable to talk anyway. Samantha said she didn't need to talk to anyone right now."

"Samantha is on your team," Penny asked, becoming slightly worried this was going to be a repeat of the whole Alex thing.

"You have nothing to worry about, love."

Apparently her worry shone through in her voice. Penny saw a pretty woman walk into frame, which did nothing to lessen the worry in any way.

"But now that I see you actually _do_ look like the picture, Leonard might have to worry."

Leonard was smiling rather smugly. "I think Samantha rather has you on her team."

Penny saw the woman wink and nod. "I most certainly would. I'll leave the two of you alone. You have about fifteen minutes. Nice to meet you, Penny."

"Nice to meet you, Samantha." Penny saw her move out of frame and moments later heard a door close.

"I'm sorry I didn't mention that Samantha is into women in my last email. I really hadn't thought about it until I saw your reaction when I mentioned her again."

Penny laughed. "No, it's alright. I don't know why I got so insecure. I trust you completely, I really do. It's just, well, remember Alex? She hit on you and you didn't even realize until she stopped being subtle about it."

"Yeah, I can be dense sometimes. But be honest, why would I want someone else when I have you?"

Penny shrugged. "Right now, I'm not there and she is, so..."

"Penny, you don't have to worry about that, ever. I'm only interested in you. Besides, I really think Alex was a fluke. Pretty much nobody would hit on me, and why would they?"

There it was again, the self doubt. "Leonard, you're a very attractive, smart and funny guy. I'm sure other women hit on you regularly. You probably just don't pick up on it."

"I don't think so. I may have failed to notice with Alex, but girls never approach me. I always had to approach women and hope they'd go out with me."

"Really? I know doctor Stephanie came on to you. So did Leslie Winkle and Priya. And that Dr. that stayed with you guys."

He smiled at that. "Yeah, I guess they did."

"Like I said, you're a real catch, so of course I get worried about losing you to someone else."

"You're not going to lose me, I promise. You really are the best thing that ever happened to me. Why would I jeopardize what we have?"

"Alright, alright, I get it. I shouldn't worry. So, what's going on? You know, besides the experimenting."

"Not much really. We usually work about fourteen or sixteen hours a day, because there really is nothing else to do. I usually take a break after about six or seven hours, but with the time difference that is still at a time that you'll be at work. By the time I'm finished you're either on your way home, or going to acting class, and I'll be too tired to stay awake much longer."

"Yeah, I can understand that. I'm glad you found an opportunity to call me now, so unexpectedly. I love being able to talk to you and see you at the same time."

"Hey, is that the locket I gave you?"

Penny looked down and held it closer to the camera. "It most certainly is. I'm keeping it close to me at all times. When I go to bed, I just hold it in my hand keeping it close to my heart, wishing you'd come back soon. Oh, that reminds me. I have something I want to show you. Hold on, I'll be back in a minute."

She stood up and darted into her bedroom. She quickly undressed and put on the sexy outfit she bought the day before. On her way back to the living room, she grabbed her robe, so she could put that on in case someone walked in.

She could see the laptop screen and saw he was still alone, so she moved into her camera's view, delighted at the very audible breath intake.

"Wow! I need to get back!"

Penny smiled broadly. "Down boy. You have a job to do. Just remember that I'll be wearing this underneath my clothing when I come pick you up at the airport."

* * *

_Hi Honey,_

_I hope you're doing okay. I read that there are some pretty severe storms where your ship is. It scares the crap out of me, thinking about you being out on a ship in the middle of a huge storm._

_Today our acting class decided on what play. This time there's enough roles for pretty much the entire class to perform. And it's a comedy! We haven't decided on the roles though. Our mentor, who's going to direct it, wants to have all of us do a test performance, to see what he can do with us. So, we'll see how that's going to turn out._

_Raj finally stopped his constant jabbering to us girls. I think he was just so happy he could finally talk without alcohol, he just went a bit overboard. He's really a great guy to be around, and I really hope he'll find a girl to be happy with. I think he's earned it, after all these years of not having anyone. Did I tell you I went to his place after I dropped you off at the airport? He was just so devastated, thinking that he was just unloveable._

_I think Sheldon is getting used to being alone. I have to say I'm really surprised he hasn't been bugging me every single second of every day. I think Amy spent a few nights, though I'm sure Sheldon had her sleeping on the couch. He seems to be content to be alone most of the time he's home, though I eat at his place at least three times a week, usually with the rest of the gang. But twice it has been just the two of us._

_Anyway, you're up to speed again on the going ons over here. I really hope to hear from you soon, even if it's just a quick note to say you're okay. I love you._

_Penny_

_P.S.: I've attached a photo of me with the glasses. I know how you liked it when I wore it that one time._

_P.P.S.: I was totally naked when I took the picture. Happy dreams honey :)_

* * *

_Hey sweetheart,_

_Your tough sailor is still in one piece, and I only threw up once. A lot less than most of the others :) But it got pretty hairy over here. We were in our life vests during the storms, because it was so dangerous._

_I'm glad to hear Sheldon and Raj both seem to be doing great. You're right about Raj deserving someone in his life. I guess now that he can talk without alcohol, he's less likely to say the wrong thing._

_We're still working on our experiments here. Sam and I decided to take a different approach from the other teams. She and I get along really well, and we find we think alike when it comes to finding a different angle. I think we stumbled on to something, but we have to rerun the experiment to see if the previous results weren't just coincidental._

_Oh boy, that picture you send? I love it! Especially with your comment about your state of dress, or rather undress. But believe me, I don't need those kind of pictures (but if you have more, don't hesitate to send them over) to have happy dreams._

_I've attached two pictures. One is of the sunset during very calm weather, the other is of me and Sam going over our results (one of the other scientists walked by and made the picture)._

_Okay, I love you and miss you, alot!_

_Leonard._

* * *

"Hi Bestie."

Penny smiled at Amy, as she walked over to the table her friend was already seated at. "Hi, Amy. I thought I was early, but you still managed to beat me to it."

"I didn't intend to arrive this early, but I happened to be finished a little early at work. You want some wine?"

Penny shook her head. "No, I'll just have some water."

"Oh, my god," Amy said, fanning herself. "You're pregnant!"

Penny looked around nervously. "No, I'm not! And even if I was, I wouldn't want everyone here to know." She glanced around once more, trying to make sure nobody was giving them any undue attention. "I just don't feel like drinking wine."

Amy frowned, but asked the waiter, as she passed by, to bring some water. "Oh, look, there's Bernadette."

"Hi ladies," Bernadette said as she sat down. "Looks like we're all early." She looked up at the waitress as she brought a jug of water. "I'd like a white wine, please."

"So, ladies. To what do I owe this fancy dinner date," Penny asked.

"Bernadette and I realize how hard it has been, being without Leonard for the past two months."

"Yeah," Bernadette chimed in. "We figured you could do with a nice dinner with just us girls." As she noticed Penny drinking water, she added, thankfully in a whisper, "Are you pregnant?"

"No, I just don't feel like drinking wine, that's all." Penny could almost see the gears in Bernadette's mind turning.

"When I came by the other night, after your first Skype conversation with Leonard, you gave me some wine, but you didn't have any then, either."

Yep, here it came.

"Penny, are you... I mean," Bernadette didn't quite seem to know what to say.

"I think we all agree I drank quite a lot. I figured I needed to stop now, before it gets to the point where I actually can't just stop." She shook her head and smiled. "I picked quite the period to do it, huh? You have no idea how many times I've walked over to my kitchen cupboard to just have one more glass of wine. But I haven't, yet." She shook her head again, this time to clear it. "Anyway, let's not talk me into a depression and just have a nice dinner together." She glared at the two of them. "And don't either of you think about not drinking any the rest of the evening. I can handle it, I promise."

* * *

Penny unlocked her apartment door and stepped in, a smile on her face. The night out with the girls had been a lot of fun. Dinner had been great, and afterwards they'd gone to a bowling alley, the one above which she'd performed the Anne Frank play.

She couldn't remember the last time she had had so much fun, at least not without getting drunk. She was proud of herself, for quitting alcohol completely. She'd set herself a goal to go without alcohol for at least four months. After that, she'd just see how things went. A drink every now and then wouldn't hurt, be she needed to be careful and not drink as much as she'd been doing for the last six, seven years.

She turned on her laptop and opened up her Facebook page. She saw a message from Samantha and read it over, and then reread it again to make sure she understood things correctly. She typed up a quick reply, and sent a message to Bernadette, before shutting off the laptop to head to bed.

The next morning Bernadette came over at ten thirty. "Hey, I got your message. What's wrong?"

Penny smiled and replied nothing was wrong. "Last night I got a message from Leonards partner, Samantha, and she..."

"Oh Penny, Leonard wouldn't cheat on you!"

"I know. For starters, when he'd get back here I'd kick his ass all the way back to England. Besides, Samantha is into women. Anyway, in her message she told me the expedition is getting a week off in London, and she invited me to come, to surprise Leonard."

"Oh, Penny, that's great! Why didn't Leonard invite you?"

"Because he doesn't know he's going to get a week off, not until the night before."

Bernadette smiled. "I bet he's going to enjoy spending some time with you."

Penny smiled. "Yeah, me and him both. However, and I really hate doing this, but I'm a little short on money."

"Don't worry about that. I'd be happy to pay for your flight. If you want to book it now, I have my credit card information."

Penny hugged her friend. "Thank you. And I will pay you back, I promise."

"Don't worry about it, Penny. I'm happy I can help you see Leonard a a couple of months earlier than either of you expected. You don't have to pay me back." As they ended the hug, she added, "Do we need to book a hotel room as well?"

Penny shook her head. "No, a hotel has been taken care off by Stephen Hawking's people."

"Okay, well, let's get you a plane ticket."

* * *

Penny sat nervously in the hotel lobby, waiting for Leonard to arrive. It had been hard not telling him this past week, especially during their last Skype conversation, just the night before she had to leave. If he'd only known her suitcase and carry-on had been sitting by the door, just out of view.

She glanced at the large clock in the lobby and saw that it would be nearly fifteen minutes before she could reasonably expect Leonard and Sam to arrive. She grabbed a magazine and started leafing through it, not really reading or even looking at the pictures.

Fifteen minutes had seemed to take forever, but she finally saw Leonard and Sam enter the lobby. With her face mostly hidden behind the magazine, neither saw her, even though Sam knew she would be waiting in the lobby. She walked over to the reception desk and heard Leonard ask if the hotel provided free WiFi.

"Hey handsome. I don't think you need WiFi when you're with me."

"I'm sorry, but I already have a girlfriend... Penny?"

She returned his kiss with equal passion, and tears started to flow. "I've missed you so much," she whispered.

"I've missed you, too. How did you know to be here?"

"That would be my doing, love," Sam said. "I sent Penny a message last week when I heard about our time off, and we all decided to keep it from you to surprise you." Sam then hugged Penny. "It's good to finally meet you."

"Same here."

"Alright, darlings. I'm sure you have more important business than talking to little old me. If you want, we can go out to dinner around six? If you'd rather be together, that's alright with me. I have a few friends living in the area, and I'm sure I could have dinner with at least one of them."

Penny looked at Leonard and at his nod, she said, "No, we'd love to go out to dinner with you. Six should be fine."

"Alright, we'll meet in the lobby at six."

* * *

Leonard looked at Penny, curled up next to him, and smiled. She hadn't been lying when she'd told him two months ago the I love yous would be coming freely and without hesitation. He glanced at his watch, and noticed it was just past five. He'd have to wake her soon, so she could get ready.

Not that Penny needed a lot of time, usually, but he didn't want her to have to rush it. He gently stroked her face until her eyes fluttered open and look at him. She immediately started to smile when she saw him.

"Oh good. It wasn't just a dream." She yawned and stretched. "What time is it?"

"A couple of minutes past five. I figured you didn't want to feel rushed to get ready, so I woke you up."

She looked up at his face, caressing it with her hand. "That's alright, Leonard. I don't need a lot of time, though."

"Well, I figured we both needed to shower and..."

"How about we share the shower. You know, to save time."

He looked at her with doubt. "You really think it would save time?"

Penny giggled. "Maybe not, but it'd be a great experiment, wouldn't it?" She sat up against the headboard, letting the bed sheet slide down, as if to prove the point.

"Oh, I know it'd be the best experiment ever. I'm just not sure if we'd make dinner on time."

She kissed him before getting out of bed. "Then we better start now."

* * *

Sam glanced at the lift as she heard the little ding announce its arrival. Again, it didn't contain Leonard and Penny, but she figured they were still enjoying each other's company and in no rush. It was only ten minutes past six, and Sam decided that if they hadn't arrived by six thirty, she would assume they weren't coming. She wouldn't blame them. If she'd been in Leonard's shoes, she probably wouldn't want to leave the room either.

Another ding announced the arrival of the other lift, this time containing her partner and his girlfriend. Penny looked stunning, Sam noticed. She stood up to meet them halfway.

"Hey, Sam. Sorry for being late," Leonard said, throwing a mock glare at Penny.

Sam just laughed. "That's alright, darling. I would've been just as happy if you had decided to not come at all." She hugged the both of them.

"Hey," Penny said in response to Leonard's mock glare. "I didn't hear you complaining."

Leonard shrugged. "Of course not. I'm an experimental physicist. Experiments is what I do."

"Still seemed like you enjoyed my experiment a whole lot better than any of your scientific experiments."

Leonard nodded. "I most certainly did." He then looked at Sam, "Sorry, Sam, but I really do like her experiments better."

Sam laughed again. "No need to apologize for that, Leonard." She picked her purse back up from the floor, where she'd dropped it. "Are you guys ready to go?"

* * *

Penny took of her dress. "Oh my god, Sam is hilarious. I really like her, you know." She turned around to hang up the dress and grabbed a scrunchie to tie up her hair.

"Yeah, Sam has become a good friend to me, too."

Penny nodded. "I could tell. We have to see if we can invite her over to the States, once you're back. I think she'd get along with almost everyone. I know she's like super smart, like you and Sheldon, but she seems so, normal, you know?"

"You're saying I'm not normal?"

Penny kissed him, before applying her night cream. "You're pretty close, but I know you actually make an effort. With her, it seems to come naturally." She stepped into bed and under the sheets, snuggling up to Leonard. "Or maybe I just have a thing for geeks."

Leonard laughed. "Well, I'm glad you are into geeks. So, I noticed you didn't drink any alcohol tonight. Is your experiment going well?"

"Mm-hmm. I think I can do it, no alcohol for four months. Maybe even longer."

"I'm glad to hear that. Though in all honesty, I don't think you were drinking that heavily."

Penny snorted. "Yeah, right. I drank a bottle of wine almost every night."

"Well, _a_ , heavy drinkers usually do a lot more, stronger stuff, and, _b_ , see how easily it was for you to just stop."

"Aw, thanks honey. We'll just see how it goes. I guess a glass of wine would be okay, but I really think that five bottles a week was just way too much. So, enough with the talking. I wanna show you just how much I love you and how much I've missed being with you."

"Hmm, I wonder how you'd be able to show that."

Penny climbed on top of him. "I'll show you."

* * *

The week had flown by, Penny thought, as she was packing up her suitcase. It had been absolutely wonderful spending so much time with Leonard, exploring London. Sam had been great by giving them lots of time just being together, but on occasion they'd gone on trips together.

Sam had taken them to her hometown, a little over an hour away, and introduced them to her friends and coworkers. Penny hadn't failed to notice the similarities between Sam's group and their group back home. Sam shared an apartment with a female version of Sheldon, though Karen wasn't as strict about rules as Sheldon, nor as socially inept.

But now, the week was over, and she had to return to Pasadena, without Leonard. She glanced at him as she closed the suitcase, seeing the sadness in his eyes, and went over to him. "I hate that I have to leave you, but you have to complete your work and I can't stay on the boat with you guys."

"I know. Doesn't mean I like it. You know, I have half a mind just blowing of the rest of this job and just come back with you."

Penny smiled and gave him a sideways hug. "Aw, that's sweet, but I want you to complete this, even if it means I won't be able to be with you for another two months. I didn't get it all, but from what you and Sam discussed last night, I get the feeling your hunch was right. It would be a shame not to see it through."

"Yeah, the results seem really promising. We're not quite there yet, but with few more tweaks, we might actually prove the whole thing."

"See, that's the reason why you have to stay. If it works, you could be looking at a Nobel Prize. You might actually kill Sheldon."

He chuckled. "Yeah, he'd be devastated. Speaking of crazy, I'm surprised he didn't contact us at all."

"I told him if he did, I'd hogtie and castrate him as soon as I got back home. I guess he decided to listen."

* * *

"You haven't heard a word I said, have you, love?"

"Huh," Leonard looked at Sam, guilt on his face. "Sorry."

Sam laughed. "Believe me, my mind would be on Penny, too, if I'd just said goodbye to her at the airport. We'll talk shop some other time."

"Thanks, Sam. I'm really not in the mood right now."

"Don't worry, darling. Tomorrow we'll be back on the ship. For now, just continue your daydreams of Penny."

Leonard smiled, and let his mind go back over this past week. It had been the best surprise when Penny just walked up to him in the hotel lobby. At first he'd thought some woman decided to hit on him, however unlikely it was. But when he'd turned around as he attempted to turn her down gently, he was happily surprised to see it had been the very same woman he had planned on calling from the hotel room and plead with her to come visit him.

They'd had such an amazing time together, exploring London, visiting Sam's friends and family, or just simply being together. He'd seen a whole new side to Penny, a Penny who was much more open about her feelings for him, showing affection even in the presence of complete strangers.

There'd even been talks about their future, however tentative. He could tell she wasn't completely comfortable with looking that far ahead, but it was a definite improvement over how she'd shunned the subject altogether in the past.

When he'd promised her that he wouldn't propose to her, that if she wanted to get married, she'd have to propose to him, he'd actually believed they wouldn't get married, but now he saw there was hope after all, perhaps even soon.

Yeah, things were definitely looking up. Now all he had to do was to get through the next two months, before he could finally be with Penny, perhaps even for forever. Life was good, Leonard thought with a smile.


	2. The Habitation Reconfiguration

"Welcome home, honey," Penny said, panting heavily, looking at him as Leonard nodded his thanks and used his asthma inhaler. She smiled at him. "Did you miss me?"

He nodded. "Oh, yeah." He looked at her with a smirk. "Looks like you missed me just as much, though."

"Oh, I most certainly did. Two months is a long time." Way too long, Penny felt. But at least it hadn't been four months, like it would've been if the expedition hadn't taken a week off in London, halfway through.

"You made me so happy when you came to London," Leonard said, as if he had read her mind. "But it was so hard letting you go again."

Penny nodded and rubbed his arm. "Wasn't any easier on me, Leonard. But I knew you had to stay and complete your jobs."

"Intellectually, I knew. I just didn't feel like it. It actually took me a few days to get back into the experiments." He shook his head. "Poor Sam. She had to do most of the work, those first few days back on the ship."

Penny smiled. "Yeah, Sam mock complained to me about it. Said she wouldn't have asked me to come over if she'd known I'd steal her lab partner's brains."

Leonard laughed. "I guess you kinda did. But I apologized to her, once I got back into the work. She said not to worry, that she understood. I took the brunt of the workload for the next couple of days, to even things out."

Penny nodded. "Yeah, she told me during our Skype conversation, when you were still working. I know I said it before, but I really like her. She's so funny and nice."

"Yeah, she's a sweetheart. When we said our goodbyes, we promised to stay in touch, and I made her promise to come visit us here in Pasadena." He grabbed his glasses and looked at Penny's alarm clock. "I probably should go say 'hi' to Sheldon, before he gets worried."

Penny took his glasses and put them back on the night stand. "Nope, Sheldon knows you're staying with me tonight. I'm not yet done saying 'welcome home' to you."

* * *

Leonard entered the apartment he shared with Sheldon. "Hey."

Sheldon looked up from his laptop. "Oh, hello Leonard. Welcome back. I've been informed your expedition to locate the equivalence of the Unruh radiation was, surprisingly, given the fact I was not involved at any point, a success."

Leonard counted to ten in his head, before replying. "It's good to see you, too, Sheldon."

Sheldon just waved his hand dismissively. "That goes without saying, Leonard."

Again, Leonard counted to ten. "Alright, I'll go put my stuff in my room."

At this, Sheldon turned toward him fully. "Now, hold on. As stated in our roommate agreement, the agreement will become void if either party is not occupying the apartment for a period of three months or longer. Do you know how long you've been away, Leonard?"

"Four months," Leonard said, preparing himself to be subjected to another roommate test and subsequent agreement.

"Precisely. Four months, which is longer than the three month period stated in the roommate agreement. As of one month ago, you and I are no longer roommates. Furthermore, as I was unsure if you would ever return to the apartment, and I had no intention to live here all by myself, I have taken it upon myself to find a new roommate."

"You're kidding me?!"

"Leonard, if I were making a joke, and when do I ever joke about the roommate agreement?"

"Every single time you bring it up," Leonard mumbled.

"As I was saying, if I were making a joke, you would've heard me utter my catchphrase. Have you heard me utter my catchphrase, Leonard?"

"Come on, Sheldon! You knew I'd be gone for four months and then come back!"

Sheldon shook his head. "No, Leonard, I did not know. If you intended to stay away longer than three months and return at a later date, you should have filled in and signed the appropriate form. I had no other choice but to assume you had terminated the roommate agreement. I've already found a new roommate and boxed up your belongings."

"Wait, you actually have found a new roommate?!" Leonard turned around when he heard the apartment door open.

"Oh, hello Leonard. Welcome back."

"Hi, Amy. Did you know Sheldon kicked me out and found a new roommate?"

Amy frowned at Sheldon. "Sheldon, you told me Leonard had voluntarily decided to terminate the roommate agreement you had with him."

Sheldon nodded. "He did. He never filled in or signed the extended absence form. The roommate agreement became void after three months of him being absent."

"Sheldon! Leonard is your best friend. This is not appropriate behavior!"

Leonard was rubbing his forehead and turned around when the door opened once again.

"What the hell is goin' on," Penny asked, clearly annoyed at all the commotion so early in the morning.

"Sheldon pulled a... he pulled a Sheldon and kicked me out of the apartment!"

Sheldon stood up and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Now hold on a minute. You all seem to imply that I am in the wrong here, but I assure you I'm not. The roommate agreement is very clear on the terms. Since you have signed it, Leonard, you agreed to adhere to all of the terms therein. You never handed in the proper form to indicate your intention to not use the apartment for a period longer than three months, thus terminating the roommate agreement."

Amy walked closer to Sheldon. "Sheldon, what about your friendship with Leonard?"

Sheldon shrugged. "Just because the roommate agreement is longer in effect, does not imply a change in our friendship status. Only the living arrangements are affected."

Leonard looked straight at him. "And what do you expect me to do now?"

Sheldon shrugged and sat back down. "Not my problem," he said and turned back to his laptop, effectively shutting them all out.

Leonard was ready to pounce the guy, but Penny grabbed his arm. "It's alright, Leonard. You can stay with me."

Leonard looked at her in surprise. "Really?"

Penny smiled. "Yeah. I think you'll find it's a big improvement. There's no roommate agreement to sign, or any of the other weird things."

* * *

"Just to be clear, you were talking temporary, right?"

Penny closed her apartment door behind her and smiled, before stepping forward to kiss him. "Not unless you want it to be temporary."

Leonard looked surprised. "You're asking me to move in?"

Penny nodded and smiled again. "Yes, I am. I was actually going to suggest it soon, but now that you have no place to stay, I figured why not ask you now?"

"Wow," Leonard replied. "You sure you're not just saying this because Sheldon kicked me out? I don't want you to feel pressured into..."

Penny kissed him lovingly on the lips. "Leonard, honey, I love you. These past four months have really opened my eyes. I want to spend as much time being with you as I possibly can. Trust me, I want you, no, I _need_ you to move in with me. Please tell me you want this too, that you agree."

He had a huge smile on his face. "I definitely agree." He hugged her and kissed her, and then started to laugh. "I guess being kicked out by Sheldon is the best thing to have happened to me."

Penny raised an eyebrow. "Really? Better than me saying good morning earlier?"

Leonard's eyes glazed over and he had a goofy grin on his face. "Well, that was really, really good. But Sheldon's recent action allows me to be with you every single day. I never expected to say this, but Sheldon's idiosyncrasies, in this particular situation, trumps having sex with you."

"Hmm, I'm beginning to think I didn't do a good enough job this morning." Penny reached behind him and locked her apartment door. "I'll have to do better this time," she whispered in his ear, before dragging him to her bedroom.

* * *

"Hi, Raj," Bernadette greeted the person on the other side of their apartment door. "Howie's not back yet, but he'll be here soon. Come on in."

"Thanks, Bernadette."

Bernadette led him to the living room and pointed at the couch. "Have a seat. Do you want something to drink?"

"No thanks. I was at the coffee house before and drank some Chai tea, so I'm good." He sat down. "So, I hear you guys are closing escrow on the condo soon."

Bernadette nodded and went to kitchen. "Yeah, tomorrow in fact. We're really excited about it." She poured herself a glass of orange juice and took it back to the living room. "The condo was just recently renovated, so we could move right in if we wanted. But we're not in a rush, so we're just gonna make an inspection round once it's ours, before deciding what we'd like to change, if anything."

"Oh, I could go with you, and maybe make some suggestions on furniture placement and such." He must have noticed the fear and doubt on her features, for he quickly amended, "Or not. I just like doing things like that."

"I'm sorry Raj, I know you do. It's just, I want this to be all Howie and my place. You understand, don't you?"

Raj nodded. "Of course. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. So, did you hear the stunt Sheldon pulled?"

Bernadette shook her head. "No, why? What did he do now?"

"Who did what," Howard asked as he entered the apartment. "Hey, Raj," he greeted his best friend and then went over to give Bernadette a hug and a kiss.

"Sheldon pulled a stunt. Apparently the roommate agreement terminated because Leonard was away longer than three months."

"You're kidding," Howard responded. "That's absurd, even for Sheldon. So, Leonard has to reapply to become his roommate?"

Raj shook his head. "No, Sheldon already has a new roommate. He told Amy he was getting a new roommate, and that Leonard had voluntarily given up the apartment. I suppose in Sheldon's warped logic he was telling the truth."

"Oh no, poor Leonard,"Bernadette said. "What's he going to do now?"

Raj shrugged. "I don't know. He'll be staying with Penny for a while, but I suppose he'll have to find another place to live."

Bernadette looked at Howard. "Maybe he could take over the lease when we move out? I think he could afford this place."

"I think that's a wonderful idea, Bernie." He kissed her. "Okay, I'm gonna take a quick shower. I'll be ready in ten minutes, and then we can go to the restaurant."

* * *

Leonard certainly enjoyed Penny's naked body pressed tightly against him, but he knew they didn't have much time to enjoy this any longer. "Penny," he said in between kisses, "we are the guests of honor, I don't think it's a good idea to arrive last."

Penny sighed, but stopped her kisses and took half a step back, clearly unwilling to break contact completely just yet. "I suppose you're right. And for the record, you are the guest of honor. I'm just your date."

"You're definitely not _just_ my date. You're my totally hot girlfriend who asked me to move in with her." He accepted the towel Penny handed him and began drying himself off. "Do you want us to keep that under wraps for now?"

Penny paused briefly, apparently weighing the pros and cons, before shaking her head. "I don't see why. They're bound to find out anyway. Besides, I'm happy to be living with you now."

"God, you're awesome," Leonard said as he grabbed her around the waist and kissed her passionately once more.

"I thought you said it wasn't a good idea to arrive last?"

Leonard shrugged. "I have a hot girlfriend I haven't seen in two months, they'll understand. I don't care what Sheldon thinks."

Her hand caressed his face. "Honey, let it go. You're living with me now, not with Wackadoodle."

He smiled and they continued to get ready, occasionally pausing for kissing and cuddling.

They arrived at the restaurant only five minutes late, their friends already seated at a large table.

"Leonard," Amy began as the two of them sat down. "Again I'd like to apologize for Sheldon's behavior and your subsequent homelessness status."

Leonard interrupted her. "It's alright, Amy. First of all, I'm not exactly homeless, and second, it's not your fault." He glanced at Penny, before adding. "Besides, I'm moving in with Penny, so it turns out it's all great."

"Howie and I have talked about this," Bernadette started, but stopped abruptly. "Did you say you guys are moving in together?"

Penny was all smiles. "Yep, I asked him this morning. I was planning on asking him soon anyway, but Wackadoodle here moved up the timetable a bit."

"Oh my god, that's great you guys," Bernadette said. "I was going to suggest Leonard takes over the lease of our apartment, when we move into our condo."

Leonard looked at Penny. "Maybe I should still do that? Your apartment isn't very big, so it would give us more room. It's up to you."

Penny shrugged. "Might be a good idea. We'll talk about it later, alright honey?"

Leonard nodded. "Sure, no problem."

* * *

The next week had been hectic. Stephen Hawking had released a statement, in which he explained the expedition's results brought them a big step closer to unravel the mysteries of the universe, explicitly naming Leonard and Sam as the experimental physicists that came up with a very promising test protocol, that would only need more time to refine, to potentially provide the answers they'd been looking for.

This had resulted in several interviews in both national and international news outlets, and a huge ceremony at the university in honor of his achievement. Leonard was becoming a famous person, and Penny couldn't have been more proud of him. However, she could tell Leonard was getting sick of all the attention, and just wanted to go back to his lab and do his job.

Luckily, the attention was waning, so soon he'd be able to live his life the way he preferred it. Today, Leonard was signing the lease on Bernadette's and Howard's old apartment, and Penny was already busy packing up boxes with her clothing. Most of Leonard's belongings were still packed in boxes, so they'd mostly had to take care of her stuff.

Howard and Bernadette had been very generous and told them they could keep any furniture already in the apartment. That was actually a bit of relief to Penny, who definitely didn't look forward to moving her furniture down the stairs and halfway across town.

* * *

"Hi, Sam," Penny greeted the experimental physicists as she neared the computer Leonard was using, stepping into the camera's field of view. "How are you?"

"Good, darling. Very good, actually. How are you guys doing?"

"Well, we just moved to this apartment, so we've been busy with unpacking and stuff." Penny hugged Leonard and kissed him on the cheek. "I guess you guys need to talk shop, so I'll leave you to it. I only wanted to say 'hi'."

"I'm sure Leonard and I can wait a little longer. Besides, the first part actually concerns you."

Penny raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yes, Stephen Hawking wants to discuss Leonard and my test model in person."

"Oh no. How long will Leonard be gone?"

"No, I'm sorry, love, I didn't mean to scare you. The discussions will be held at CalTech. You will not have to miss Leonard for any extended period of time. Though I can not guarantee he will not have to work long days."

Penny released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. "Oh thank God. Wait, that means you'll be coming here?"

Sam smiled and nodded. "Yes, I will. I'd be staying for at least two months, and this is where it concerns you, Penny. I've never been particularly fond of staying in hotels for extended periods of time, and two months is really long. So, I was hoping you could find me a place to stay, that isn't too expensive. I figured you'd be better at finding a 'girl' apartment than Leonard would."

"I think I have the perfect place. As far as we know, my old apartment is still for rent." She glanced at the clock. "They're closed now, but I'll call them first thing in the morning."

"That would be wonderful! If you can manage that, just send me the financial information and I'll confer with Stephen Hawking's people. Thank you, darling."

"Hey, no problem, Sam. I'll let the two of you talk shop, now." She kissed Leonard again. "I'll be in bed waiting for you," she said in a half whisper.

"I promise I won't keep him up too long," Sam said, with a wink at Penny.

* * *

"And where is that new roommate you've found," Amy asked. She'd been at Sheldon's apartment several times, for an extended period of time, but still hadn't seen the elusive newcomer to their group.

"He's probably at work. He has highly irregular working hours."

Amy knew Sheldon couldn't be lying, otherwise his nervous twitch would've been apparent. But the fact she still hadn't seen the new roommate was odd, to say the least. So, Sheldon wasn't lying, but he wasn't exactly being very forthcoming with information. Something was going on, and Amy planned on figuring out just exactly what it was. "I still think you were being unfair to Leonard. He's..."

"I wasn't unfair. The roommate agreement clearly stipulates the conditions that would lead to termination. Leonard..."

"Is your best friend," Amy interjected. "And probably not even aware of that rule, especially given the emotional state he was in with leaving his girlfriend behind for four months."

"One should never let oneself be ruled by emotions. Emotions have no bearing on a contract."

Amy just shook her head, effectively giving up. She knew it would be nearly impossibly to make him see things differently. "Tell me about your new roommate."

"Oh, he's a delight to have as a roommate. Generally he's here when I'm not, which reduces situations of possible conflict. When we do happen to be in the apartment together, he's usually quiet and stays to himself. It's a much welcomed improvement over living with Leonard."

* * *

"Excuse me, I'm looking for the astrophysics department."

Rajesh turned around when he heard the question. "I'm on my way there now. Just follow me."

The pretty woman smiled. "Okay. I'm Melissa."

"Nice to meet you, Melissa. I'm Rajesh, but almost everybody calls me Raj. So, what brings you to the astrophysics department?"

"My best friend is a grad student and working on her dissertation."

Rajesh nodded. "So you're the friend Linda keeps talking about."

Melissa smiled. "Knowing her, I have no doubt about that. So, you met Linda?"

"Yes, I'm her dissertation adviser. If I remember correctly, the two of you have been friends since you were, what? Five?"

Melissa nodded. "Yeah, we took an instant liking to each other, even though she was already super smart and I wasn't. I mean, I'm not dumb, just average."

"I'm sure you're not dumb, and there's nothing wrong with being average, whatever that is. There've been many times I wished I was average, fit in with other kids my age."

Melissa sighed. "Yeah, I know Linda struggled with that, too. The not fitting in, being picked on, bullied. I hated seeing her go through that."

Raj looked at Melissa again. She looked a bit like Penny, he thought, both in appearance, as well as compassion. The only difference seemed to be that Melissa had befriended a nerd from a very young age, whereas Penny had grown into that. "I think you've helped her a lot, just by being her best friend."

"Mel? What are you doing here?"

Melissa hugged her friend. "Visiting you."

Raj let the two friends talk, and walked into his office.

* * *

Linda grinned at Melissa, who didn't seem to notice in the least. For the past twenty minutes Melissa hadn't stopped talking about Dr. Koothrappali, and how nice he was.

"Oh, stop grinning at me," Melissa said.

"You got the hots for my dissertation adviser," Linda said, leaving the grin in place. "You're falling for a science dude!"

Melissa looked at her sternly, before smiling again. "I guess I am. Well, at least I'm attracted to him, not sure about falling for him. You don't mind do you? I mean, it won't get you in trouble if he and I hook up?"

Linda shook her head. "I won't get in trouble, and neither would he."

"Good. So, are you sure he's single? How could he be single?"

Linda chuckled. "Yes he's still single. Most of his life he apparently couldn't talk to women at all. Later he found he could when he consumed alcohol and just a few months back he could finally talk to women without getting drunk."

"Really? That's kinda weird."

Linda shrugged. "Not really. Selective mutism is usually paired with social anxiety. A two thousand and two study estimated that about point seventy one percent suffers from this disorder, though mostly at a young age. Various treatments have been devised in order to reduce the anxiety and allowing the subject to speak again. It's best to start treatment at a young age, as older subjects would be used to their selective mutism and are therefore more difficult to treat."

Melissa grinned and patted her friends arm. "Lin, you're doing it again. You lost me after the social anxiety."

Linda laughed, but knew Melissa had most likely heard every word, but just wasn't that interested. "You're really moving into an apartment in Pasadena," she changed the subject.

Melissa nodded. "Yep. I got a job at the Cheesecake Factory so I can pay my bills and stuff."

Linda frowned. Melissa wasn't the type to settle for just a waitress job. "And then what?"

Melissa shrugged. "And then I'm probably gonna enroll into a college."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I can't keep waiting for that rich man to cater to my every wish. You know how well it went with the last three."

Linda did know and laid her hand on top of her friends. "Maybe you should just find a guy that makes you happy. Like Dr. Koothrappali."

Melissa smiled. "We'll see."

* * *

Penny grabbed her phone and checked the time. "Leonard, honey, we need to go!" She grabbed Leonard's car keys from the coffee table.

"Coming! The plane is nearly half an hour late, so we don't have to rush too much."

Penny turned to look at Leonard as he came out of the bedroom, his tablet in his hands, and she had to smile. Of course he'd used his tablet, even though he hadn't been in the bedroom for more than five minutes, just to change. "Well, even so, at this time of day traffic isn't exactly light. We might actually need the extra half an hour."

Leonard just kissed her. "Will you just relax? Even if we'd be a few minutes late she'd wait for us without getting worried." He turned around and grabbed the apartment keys from the bowl near the door. "Did you get the keys for your old place?"

Penny patted her pocket. "Got them right here."

They left the apartment and made their way to the airport in Leonard's car. It was fairly busy, but not as bad as Penny had feared. She glanced at the arrivals monitor and quickly spotted the flight the British experimental physicist would be on. "Another fifteen minutes have been added," Penny observed. "That's another forty minutes before she lands."

They walked toward the arrivals area at a leisurely pace, seeing they had plenty of time. "So, I've been thinking. Sam's probably gonna be dead-tired, and she doesn't really know the way yet."

Leonard nodded. "Yeah. Not to mention the traffic back into town is really going to be brutal."

Penny nodded. "Exactly. So, I thought, she might appreciate getting a ride. You could take her in her rental, or maybe I take her in your car and you drive the rental."

"Sounds like a great idea. Actually, I think she might prefer a ride with you. Chances are, if she'd get a ride with me, we'd be talking shop, and I doubt she'd like that."

Penny smiled. "Well, she _is_ kinda like the female version of you, so maybe she would prefer a ride with you."

Leonard kissed her. "If I'd be in her shoes, I'd prefer spending the drive with you, instead of another science nerd."

Penny stepped closer to him. "Hmm, good answer. I knew you were smart." She kissed him soundly on the lips and then wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder, content to just stand there and be close to him.

His arms had wrapped themselves around her waist and they stood like that for perhaps ten minutes, before Penny spoke up again. "Did you ever find out who Sheldon's new roommate is?"

Leonard shook his head, "no, but he's told us he's the ideal roommate. Apparently, most of the time Sheldon is actually alone in the apartment, because that new guy is at work during those hours. I just don't get it, though. He said he didn't want to live alone in the apartment, so he looked for a replacement for me, but he barely sees the guy."

"I think it's just because you didn't adhere to his weird rules. You know what Sheldon's like. Everything has to be structured or he'll freak out. Maybe that's why he chose a roommate who's rarely in the apartment when he is."

Leonard sighed. "I suppose that is true. At work he still treats me as one of his friends, though I think he's a little jealous of me right now."

Penny chuckled. "Oh, he's jealous alright. He was jealous as hell even before you went, and that didn't change much, especially when he learned of your successes." Suddenly she looked back up at Leonard. "You don't think that's the reason, do you? For kicking you out, I mean?"

Leonard shrugged. "Even if it is, I don't really care. I rather like living with a sane person for a change."

* * *

"Sorry, darling. I must have dozed off."

Penny glanced at Sam. "Don't worry, you had a long flight and you're still on UK time. It's the middle of the night for you. In fact, Leonard and I anticipated you'd be tired. That's why we wouldn't let you drive."

"A wise precaution, I can admit now. I had however planned to talk with you, just us girls."

"We'll have some time tomorrow, or the day after. You don't have to work until Monday, right?"

Sam nodded. "Monday afternoon, to be exact. However, I'm thinking of visiting Leonard in his lab sometime Monday morning."

"Leonard and I don't have to work tomorrow or the day after. If you're up to it, we can visit you and maybe show you around. And how to get to the university."

Sam nodded again, and yawned. "Sounds wonderful, love." She yawned again. "As soon as we get to the apartment, I'm going straight to bed." She yawned again. "But I do want to spend some time just with you. We never had the opportunity when you visited Leonard, not that I blame you for having chosen to spend every waking moment with him." Again she yawned.

"We're almost there, Sam. Just a few more minutes. Leonard and I took the liberty of buying some of the necessities, food wise, so you don't have to worry about that when you wake up in the morning."

Sam yawned again. "Thank you, I'll pay you back..."

"Don't you dare turning down Leonard's generosity," Penny interrupted her, with a grin on her face, but quickly sobered. "I'm serious, Sam. You don't have to pay us back. We really didn't buy you that much anyway, just enough for the first day. Plus, tomorrow evening you'll be eating at our place."

"Alright. "Sam looked at the building as Penny parked the car. "This seems like a nice place."

Penny shrugged. "It's not bad, once you get used to the wackadoodle next door."

Sam noticed Penny's feature darken. "Yes, I remember you telling me about Dr. Cooper, and his welcome home surprise for Leonard."

"Yeah, that really was the worst he'd ever done." She locked the car. "But Leonard didn't really mind, especially when I asked him to move in together." She shook her head. "He never saw it coming, but he was so happy."

Sam and Penny waited outside for Leonard to park the rental before entering the building and walk up the stairs.

"Well, here we are," Penny said as she entered the key in the lock.

Before they could step in, the door on the other side of the hall opened, and Sam had to try her hardest not to laugh when her new, and temporary, neighbor, indeed looked like a praying mantis, or C3PO, just like Leonard had described him to her.

"I thought I heard your voice, Penny. I assume you already had enough of living with Leonard and decided to move out?"

Sam again had to try not to laugh when she saw Penny roll her eyes.

"No, Sheldon, I did not move out. And trust me, even if I had, I would not move back so close to you. Sam's the unlucky one to be living across from you."

"Oh, great, another fake blond actress slash waitress, I assume?"

This time Sam did laugh. "Hardly, darling. I'm Dr. Green, and together with Dr. Hofstadter I devised the protocol to prove Stephen Hawking's theory."

"I see. I suppose you were the brains of the outfit?"

Sam looked incredulously at Leonard and Penny, before turning back. "We both were. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've had a long flight and I'm almost falling asleep where I stand. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other at other times. Good night, Dr. Cooper." She walked into the opened apartment, Penny following, while Leonard stayed outside.

"Told you he's a serious wackadoodle," Penny said, in a hushed voice.

Sam, remembering the tales of his incredible hearing, answered in a similar fashion. "I can't believe how lowly he thinks of Leonard's intellect."

"I think it's more jealousy than anything else," Penny said. "Whenever something good happens to Leonard, Sheldon seems to try his best to put him down." She shook her head. "He really isn't a bad person, he's just, you know, bat-crap crazy."

Sam nodded. "Someone needs to put him in his place, some time."

Penny laughed softly. "I should introduce you to Leslie Winkle. She used to drive him crazy, because she fixed mistakes he'd made on his whiteboard. She still calls him Dr. Dumbass and things like that. I'm sure she'd be happy to give you some pointers."

"Is Leonard not coming in?"

"Nah, he's probably warning Sheldon not to bother you before tomorrow afternoon. Besides, we'll be leaving anyway, so you can get some sleep. You think you'll be ready for visitors at, say, noon? We could go out to lunch or something."

* * *

"Hello, Terra Firma to Dr. Koothrappali." Linda waved her hand in front of his face, a knowing smile on her face.

"Hmm, oh, sorry Linda. My brain got sidetracked."

Yeah, probably with a particular blonde woman, Linda thought. Melissa had stopped by two hours ago, to see if they could have lunch later, and ever since, Dr. Koothrappali had seemed absentminded. "That's alright," she said out loud. "I was just wondering what your thoughts are on the changes I made in my research brief."

He looked at his desk and grabbed the hard copy. "I think it's an interesting twist on the original theory. I did make some notes, but other than that, I think it'd make for a worthy thesis." He handed her the hard copy.

Linda looked over his notes, which were very legible and nodded her head. "Yes, I see what you mean. I'll incorporate the changes and start working on the research on Monday." She glanced at her watch. "Right now, I'm going to have lunch with Mel. If you want, you can join us."

"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to impose."

Linda shrugged as nonchalantly as she could. "I'm sure Mel doesn't mind."

"Well, if you're sure it's alright."

"Sure, no problem. I'll just put this in my drawer and then I'm ready to go."

"Okay!"

Linda walked to the small desk, a smile on her face. She might be able to get these two together, and she was going to try her hardest, too. She opened her drawer and placed the hard copy at the bottom, before closing and locking it. She hid her smile as she turned around and approached her awaiting dissertation adviser. "Okay, I'm ready."

In comfortable silence they walked toward the cafeteria. The first few days, Linda had got lost in the many corridors. She never had had a good sense of direction in large buildings, though she did fine outdoors. But corridors always confused her. She had figured out soon enough that outdoors she used the sun or stars, depending on time of day, to figure out which way she was going, but she had trouble remembering the maze of corridors between the astrophysics department and the cafeteria.

When they arrived at the cafeteria, much quieter this Saturday than on normal weekdays, Linda spotted her friend quickly and walked over to her. "Hey, Mel," she said, hugging her best friend. "I hope you don't mind, but I invited Dr. Koothrappali to join us." She didn't fail to see the warning glance Melissa threw her.

"Of course I don't mind." Melissa smiled pleasantly at him and shook his hand. "Now, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving."

Linda smiled, but also felt a little worried. Could it be her friend was in so much financial trouble she hadn't eaten any breakfast? Melissa knew that she could always ask her for help, but Linda knew Melissa could be too proud, or maybe even embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm pretty hungry, as well."

As they'd gotten their food, Linda noticed that Melissa had consistently chosen the cheapest things, and not all that much of it. She'd whispered in her ear, "it'll be my treat, just get something you really want and get enough of it." Melissa had looked embarrassed and thankful at the same time and switched her choice.

Linda kept quiet as her adviser and Melissa talked nearly nonstop, careful to hide her smile from both of them. So far, her plan seemed to work. Now she needed to figure out how to get them to go out on an actual date. And get Melissa to accept some money to tide her over.

Melissa really was her best friend, ever since they'd met. She'd been the only girl who wasn't all nerdy, but had chosen to hang out and play with her anyway, and they'd remained close friends ever since. Linda doubted Melissa knew how much she had done for her, and sometimes still did. She remembered how hard it had been, when her peers had bullied her, and it could've only been worse if she hadn't had a friend like Melissa to support her no matter what.

Her thoughts were interrupted with the arrival of Dr. Hofstadter, his girlfriend and another, unknown woman. The latter was introduced as Dr. Samantha Green, the colleague of Dr. Hofstadter while he'd been working on devising experiments for Stephen Hawking's hypothesis.

It was a bit unfortunate, Linda felt, though Dr. Koothrappali still seemed more interested in Melissa. But Linda knew her friend; she'd be worried Dr. Koothrappali would be more compatible to this Dr. Green woman. But Linda was up to the challenge; she was going to get her best friend and her dissertation adviser together.


	3. The Uncertainty Principle

"They look cute together," Penny said to the grad student Raj had taken under his wings. "Your friend and Raj, I mean."

The young woman looked guilty, but then shrugged. "Melissa is a wonderful person, and so is Dr. Koothrappali. She's had some bad relationships, though. Looking for the wrong things."

Penny smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I've done that as well, in the past. I just wanted to let you know, if you need any help in getting them together, even though you seem to be doing fine on your own, just let me know. I'm sure that between the two of us, we can make this happen."

The young woman smiled. "I'll remember that. I think I just have to convince Melissa she shouldn't worry about Dr. Green being more compatible, and that she should ask Dr. Koothrappali out."

"She definitely doesn't have to worry about Sam." At the young woman's doubtful look Penny clarified, "She's into women, not men. And you have no idea how big of a relief that was to me when I found out she was partnered with Leonard."

At that the young woman laughed. "I'm sure it was. You know, you and Melissa have quite a bit in common, with the both of you hanging around us science nerds."

Penny nodded. "I guess we do, though Melissa has been your friend from a very young age. I only began hanging out with the guys six years ago." She shook her head. "Not too long ago, it was pointed out to me I'd been a bully at high school, even though I didn't think I'd been one. It wasn't until I started hanging out with all of them, and especially after Leonard and I got involved, that I realized how hard it'd been for them, how painful. I guess you know what that's like."

The woman nodded. "Yeah, it was terrible. And I was lucky, because I had Melissa as a friend. She stood up for me, even though that meant she was excluded from the popular group. But she never stopped being my friend."

* * *

"You and Linda were gone for quite a long time," Leonard observed as they drove back home.

Penny smiled. "Yeah, I told her I help her play matchmaker."

"Ah, you picked up on that as well, didn't you darling?"

Leonard looked in the rearview mirror at Sam. "Picked up on what, exactly?" Sometimes women still baffled him.

"She's trying to get Raj and Melissa to go out together," Penny answered. "Oh, I told her you weren't going to be competition, because, well, you know."

Sam laughed. "That's quite alright, love. I'm not ashamed of my sexual preferences, nor do I feel a need to hide it."

"Wait, you guys are trying to get Raj to go out with Melissa? Do they even want to?" Leonard's question was met with laughter from both women.

"Oh, trust me, they want to. Haven't you seen how they kept looking at each other, how they laughed at each others little jokes, even the ones that weren't particularly funny?"

"They've definitely fallen for each other," Sam agreed with Penny. "They just need to be given a nudge in the right direction." To Penny she added. "Let me know if I can do anything to help."

"I will. You're probably in a better position to help Linda with convincing Raj. I can work on Melissa at the Cheesecake Factory."

Leonard just shook his head and decided to keep quiet about the subject. He had no doubt that between the three of them, they'd have no problem convincing the two lovebirds to go on a date.

And it would be great if his friend would finally be in a relationship, something he'd wanted for so long, but never seemed to be able to get. Perhaps, now that he didn't need alcohol to talk, and with the help from no less than three women, he might actually be in a relationship, quite possibly soon. "So, Sam, you're sure you'll be able to find your way to the university on Monday?"

"Oh, yes, that won't be a problem. Besides, I have a cellphone I can use and I speak the language. I can always ask for directions should I get turned around anyway."

* * *

Sam opened her apartment door. "Ah, Dr. Cooper. What can I do for you?" She tried not to grin, knowing exactly why the theoretical physicist was looking uncomfortable and unsure. "Forgot how to talk, love," she asked him after a few seconds.

"I simply came over to properly introduce myself. I'm Dr. Sheldon Cooper, BS, MS, MA, PhD, and ScD."

"That's a lot of letters, darling. Nice to meet you, Sheldon, I'm Samantha, but you can call me Sam."

"I believe you failed to understand the enumeration of abbreviations I gave you."

Sam shook her head. "I did no such thing, and am fully aware of what you have accomplished academically. However, I fail to see the necessity of enumerating those accomplishments when one introduces oneselves. Tell me more about you, as a person. Who is Sheldon Cooper?" Sam knew it wouldn't work, not the first time. It didn't work on Karen the first few attempts, and she had no reason to believe her first attempt would work on the praying mantis.

"Well, I'm a theoretical physicist at CalTech..."

Sam interrupted him. "I asked who is Sheldon Cooper, not what does he do." She could tell it got him uncomfortable, and moments later he turned around and walked back to his apartment, mumbling something about neighbors.

Sam closed the door with a smile. 'I'll get you to open up, Sheldon, even if it takes all of my time here,' she thought. She plopped herself down on the couch and grabbed the laptop to go over her notes and the results of the last experiment she and Leonard had performed together.

* * *

Penny leaned against the wall with her shoulder, smiling as she watched Leonard going over his work notes. He looked so cute in just his boxers, glasses on, fully focused on his work. Not for the first time she asked herself why she hadn't allowed herself to give in to her feelings for him sooner.

He'd never done anything to hurt her, not physically, not emotionally, at least not on purpose. He'd just been a close friend when she wasn't ready for a relationship, but had still treated her like she was his entire world. 'Of course he did,' Penny thought. 'He loved you from day one, and he never truly stopped.'

She knew he still thought he didn't deserve her, but really Penny wondered if she deserved him, especially after the way she'd treated him, by not telling him how she really felt for him. Yeah, she was the lucky one, not Leonard. He could've found someone so much better, someone willing to tell him she loved him.

Penny walked over to him and hugged him from behind. "I love you so much," she told him.

He turned around, "I love you too." As he looked at her, he added, "I'll be done in just a few minutes."

"Okay. Do you mind if I stay here and just watch you?"

"Why would I mind?"

Penny smiled. "If you'd asked me if you could just watch me do my work, it'd freak me out." She grabbed another chair and sat down next to him, deliberately letting the robe fall open partially. She smiled as she saw his eyes dart toward the opening and lingering there for a few seconds.

"Won't freak me out," he answered, before resuming his work. Penny could tell he had quite some difficulty keeping his attention on his work and she smiled. As his eyes darted to her half opened robe the fourth time she asked, "I'm not distracting you, am I?"

He glanced up at her and shook his head. "No, of course not." Once again he turned back to the computer.

She retrieved her glasses from the robe's pocket and put them on. She knew he'd give in soon, especially when she noticed the bulge in his boxers.

* * *

Leonard yawned and opened up the results and notes he'd been working on last night until Penny began to distract him. He hadn't been able to focus on his work and decided to just give in and continue his work at the lab in the morning. Stephen Hawking and Sam weren't going to be here until the afternoon, and realistically he only needed ten minutes or so to complete what he'd started last night.

Of course, that was assuming he could stay awake and not envision Penny in nothing but a pair of glasses. He wondered how someone as hot and sexy as Penny, could become even sexier just by wearing a pair of glasses. His mind conjured up the vision of Penny, sitting in the chair with her half-opened robe and a pair of glasses, placed slightly down her nose.

Damn, this was not the place to be thinking of that sort of thing. He needed to focus on his work today, or Sheldon would be proven right about Sam being the brains in their collaboration. He took a careful sip from his coffee, surprised to find it had cooled down considerable. Glancing at the little clock on his computer he realized he'd been daydreaming for close to ten minutes. He downed his coffee and got up to get a new one, before diving into his work.

Back at his desk, he went over the data and marked some of the numbers that appeared out of the ordinary. He was sure Sam would've noticed the same thing, but that didn't matter. He typed up some additional notes about the findings, before opening the brief Stephen Hawking had sent ahead of time.

Reading through it several times, to make sure he didn't miss anything, he went back to the protocol Sam and he had devised. Stephen Hawking had made some suggestions, but he conceded that at this point it was unclear if his suggestions were actually the right direction, or would take them further away from their goal.

He looked up from his work when he noticed he had company. "Hey, Howard."

"Hey, Leonard. I didn't want to disturb you while you were going over Stephen's brief."

Leonard put down his pencil. "No, that's alright. What can I do for you?"

Howard entered his lab. "I wanted to see if I could interface Stephen's computer to yours. It should help with the collaboration." He held up a circuit board. "With this, I should be able to, but I'm thinking that it might be better to link it through the mainframe. Are you currently logged in to the mainframe?"

Leonard checked. "Nope. Do you need me to?"

Howard moved toward the mainframe hookup. "In a minute. I'll plug this in first, and hook you up to the board." He suited the action to his words and in less than a minute gave Leonard the okay to logon to the mainframe.

Howard came over to Leonard's computer and performed some simple tests, before nodding his head in approval. "Yeah, that should work perfectly." He pointed at the circuit board. "I made that so it works as local network, which can interface with Stephen's wheelchair computer. It would allow you to work either locally, or directly on the mainframe."

"Excellent," Leonard said.

"Keep in mind, though, Stephen will not be as quick, given the limited motions he can make."

* * *

Sam entered the university and found Leonard's lab without trouble. "Hello, darling."

"Hey, Sam," he answered and glanced at the clock on his computer. "You're a bit early, aren't you?"

"I know, but I didn't want to be late, in case I took a wrong turn somewhere. But I didn't and found both the university and your laboratory easily. If you'd like we could compare our notes before getting a bite to eat?"

He pulled up a chair and placed it next to his. "Sure, have a seat."

Sam sat down in the chair and retrieved her laptop and powered it on. "I found some anomalies in our data," she said while the laptop was busy booting.

"Yeah, I found a couple as well. I don't think they're entirely out of the expected range, but they're somewhat off, compared to rest of the dataset. You know, I was thinking, it may have been the storms."

Sam frowned as she looked at the datapoints Leonard marked. "But we did those particular tests after the storm passed."

"I know, but what if the storm influenced the sea, all the way down the bottom. It would take quite a bit longer for that disturbance to move through the water, but it would likely be following the same path. All of our anomalies occurred over the course of two days, three days after the storms hit us. We should check if we can get a report about the currents during that period and see if there's any correlation."

Sam nodded her head. "It does sound plausible." She looked at her laptop. "So, how are we going to do this? Can I hook up my laptop to yours, or should we use USB flash drives?"

Leonard shook his head. "Lemme call Howard. He's the engineer who's going to be taking care of Stephen Hawking's wheelchair equipment. He already made a circuit board that would allow Stephen's computer to be hooked up."

Sam nodded, while she navigated toward her documents and opened the results and her notes. Moments later a short man with a Beatlesque haircut entered, who turned out to be the engineer Leonard had mentioned.

"Yeah, we could hook her up as well," he answered Leonard's question after being introduced. He took an ordinary USB cable and plugged one end into the circuit board and the other into her laptop. "I'll need to install a special driver," he said, pointing at her laptop.

Sam handed it to him and not two minutes later he gave it back. "That should do it," he said and pointed at the screen. "I've hooked you up to a folder on Leonard's computer, so you can share documents. The driver will automatically copy modifications from and to your laptop, so you don't have to worry about that. You can also logon to the mainframe, but you'll have to copy anything from and to the mainframe yourself. Leonard will know how to do that."

* * *

Melissa sat down with a big sigh.

"You'll get used to it," Penny told her as she sat down opposite her. "Though this was a pretty busy shift."

"I never realized how hard a waitress has to work, or how much you depend on tips until I started here."

"Been there, done that," Penny said with a nod. "Wait till you get the late night shift. You'll have some cleaning up to do, after all the customers have left."

Melissa moaned. "I'll never get through that." She just couldn't imagine having to work even more after having pulled of her regular work.

"You will, trust me. The first few shifts I was just like you, exhausted, didn't want to get up, but gradually I learned to do it."

"Exhausted? I'm beyond exhausted. I don't even want to get up to go home."

Penny laughed. "Just give it a few minutes, and you'll be fine. I have almost an hour before my second shift starts."

"You're doing another shift," Melissa asked, with no small amount of awe.

"Yeah, but I'll be behind the bar tonight, so that's a bit easier. But I've done double waitress shifts in the past, so it can be done, though I wouldn't suggest to that on a regular basis, or for any longer than a week."

"Why would you even want to?"

Penny shrugged. "It's extra money, so why not? Sometimes your bills might be higher than you anticipated, or something breaks and needs to be replaced. Granted, now that I live with Leonard, money isn't a real issue, but they needed the extra help and since Leonard's working late most of the week, I figured I might as well volunteer."

"Does your boyfriend work late often?"

Penny shook her head. "No, but this week his British colleague and him are going over their experiments on the North-Sea, so they kinda have to."

"Aren't you worried that there might be more between them then work?"

Penny shook her head and smiled. "No, no need to worry." She leaned in closer and said in a hushed voice, "she's into women, not men." Sitting back and continuing in a normal tone of voice, she added, "Besides, Leonard's not really the type to cheat on his girlfriend. I don't think any of the guys are. Generally, they're just happy when they have a girlfriend."

Melissa smiled. "Yeah, same with Linda and boyfriends. I just don't understand why guys don't see what a wonderful person she is."

"Pretty much the same reason most girls don't see how wonderful guys like Leonard, Howard, and Raj are. They're being judged by the fact they're into comics, science, sci-fi, instead of looking at the person and see their passion, their personality. I used to be the same, before I met the guys."

"What's it like, dating a smart person?"

Penny smiled. "I'm not going to lie to you. It's different. They have their interests, which is usually not something you share with them. But it's also wonderful, at least it's been that way with Leonard."

Melissa watched Penny with interest, and could tell she was reliving some pretty good memories. "Well, I've hung out with a smart person most of my life, so I think I know what to expect."

"You haven't been in a relationship with one. What you need to realize is that, for most of them, they're mostly inexperienced when it comes to romantic relationships. This can make them very insecure, with all kinds of aspects. Leonard always found it troubling that wherever I went, guys would hit on me. A regular boyfriend would have either told the guy to go away or, at the very least, make sure everybody knew I was taken."

Penny took a sip of water, before continuing. "Leonard always felt he didn't measure up to them, and I might leave him at anytime. Add to that that he's short, and the only way he could deal with guys hitting on me was to sulk and, believe it or not, do some pretty stupid things."

Melissa nodded, mulling over the information. "But you think it's worth it?"

Penny nodded. "Oh, yes. Especially once you make clear to him he doesn't need to worry, that you love him, it could very well be the best relationship of your life. But, like you said earlier, being Linda's friend for so long, probably helps you a little to understand him better."

Melissa nodded again, and sat in silence, thinking about all Penny had told her. Perhaps dating someone like Dr. Koothrappali wouldn't be the worst decision of her life. Linda didn't seem to think so. "What's Dr. Koothrappali like?" The question was out of her mouth before she knew.

Penny smiled. "Between you and me, you couldn't find a better guy than Raj. He used to be unable to talk to women, unless he got drunk, but that's no longer a problem. He's had a hard time, probably the hardest of the guys, because of his inability to talk to women."

* * *

"Penny," Leonard called as he walked into the apartment, putting the keys in the bowl near the apartment door. He stepped into the apartment and called her name again, but no reply came. She probably was still on her way home.

He walked to their bedroom and got undressed to get a shower. Being cooped up in his lab for hours with a failing AC hadn't been the best way the day could've gone. Luckily, maintenance had assured him the AC would be fixed by tomorrow late morning, so they wouldn't have to go through that another day.

He turned on the water, before taking of his pants and his glasses. He stepped under the stream and sighed at the soothing feel of the water on his body. He stood there for a minute, before grabbing the Darth Vader shampoo.

Just as he rinsed out the shampoo, Penny's arms snaked around his torso. "Hey," he said while trying to turn around but Penny prevented him from actually doing so.

"Just stay like this," she half whispered, pushing herself tightly against him.

Leonard simply nodded, content to feel her body pressed against him. "I missed you today." Penny simply hummed, a signal she felt the same. "Hard day," he asked, which Penny asked in a similar fashion to his previous statement. He decided to keep quiet, until she felt like talking to him.

After a few more minutes she simply said "turn," but not in a commanding tone. Nonetheless, Leonard turned around immediately, Penny maintaining physical contact the entire time. She kissed him passionately, letting the water cascade over them. After a while, too soon as far as he was concerned, she broke the kiss, sighed and place her head on his shoulder.

Leonard held her in his arms, enjoying the feel of her, but worried about her current state of mind. She was the strong one in this relationship, the one who could handle almost anything. He couldn't imagine what could've possibly got her shaken up like that today at work. But at the same time, he knew it would be pointless to try and force it out of her. Eventually she'd tell him, when she was ready to talk about it.

They were standing there for perhaps another two minutes, before she asked, "Do you think I'm stupid?"

"No, of course not. Penny, you may not be super smart like the guys and I, but you're definitely not stupid!" He wondered what brought this on. They hadn't spoken all day, and there hadn't been more than three very short texting conversations, and everything had seemed fine at the last one.

"During the late shift, a couple of educated women came in. I could hear them talking, saying that you must be really stupid if you work at the Cheesecake Factory."

"What?" Leonard couldn't believe anyone would say that. "Bernadette worked at the Cheesecake Factory. She isn't stupid, is she?"

"No, but she worked there while she was finishing her education, and quit as soon as she was finished. But let's face it, I work there because I don't have any degree. Most of us there are in the same position as I am. Aspiring actor slash actress, but pretty much none of us really make it. And why do we work these jobs? Because we can't do anything that requires any form of education, because we never finished ours. We're stupid."

Leonard sighed. "Penny, you're not stupid, nor are your coworkers. You've simply chosen a different path in life." He paused. "And since when do you care what anyone else thinks?" He only got a shrug in response, so he continued, "And you're still going to your history classes, and that's going great, isn't it?"

"Yeah, if someo... Whatever."

Leonard grinned. "You mean when you get Bernadette or Amy to help you with your papers?"

She looked up at him. "You know? Well, that just proves it, doesn't it? I must be stupid if I can't write my own papers."

"Or you're smart enough to ask for help to improve yourself. I'm assuming that first one was pretty much entirely written by either one of them, and for the record, no, they didn't tell me. But how about the last one, the B minus?"

"They wrote that first one," Penny admitted.

"And the last one," Leonard prompted her again.

"They helped me make it better."

"See, you're not stupid. You went from having someone write the paper for you, to writing your own paper and have someone go over it to make it better. You learned to write better papers, and learned the subject matter. If you were really stupid, you wouldn't have been able to do that."

"Hmm," was the only thing she said, moving her hands down to the small of his back. They stood like that for a minute or so, before she said, "We should probably finish our shower."

This time Leonard answered with a, "hmm," unsure if he should drop the subject so easily. Did he actually make her feel better, or was she just worried he'd be angry at or disappointed in her if she continued to pursue the subject. He didn't get much of a choice, as Penny grabbed her loofa.

He watched her as she began cleaning herself and felt himself react physically. Penny just grinned and winked at him. "I'll be done quick, I promise."

* * *

Raj shook himself and thought, 'come on, dude! Focus!' Ever since he'd met Linda's friend, he found himself daydreaming about her. But he couldn't ask her out, even though the girl was not a grad student. It could make things awkward between Linda and him, or between Linda and her best friend.

No, he just couldn't start dating that sweet and beautiful girl. It hurt, he realized. He was finally in a position where he could talk with a woman he had feelings for, but he had to refrain from doing so, to make sure the three of them could still get along.

Of course it didn't help that the three of them were going to lunch again. Why had he said yes when Linda asked? He was sure she wouldn't have asked if she knew what kind of things he was thinking about, regarding her best friend.

"Enter," he said when someone knocked on the door.

"Oh, hello Dr. Koothrappali. I was looking for Linda, but couldn't find her. I was a little early for lunch, but I figured she wouldn't mind if I kept her company."

"Oh, I think she's still going over her research data. I don't think she wants to be disturbed."

The beautiful woman shrugged lightly. "Do you mind if I wait here until she gets back?"

Raj shook his head and gestured to the chair opposite his. "No, of course not. Have a seat." 'Excellent way to attempt to keep her at bay,' he thought to himself.

Melissa smiled and walked in. "You're sure? I can just wait in the cafeteria, if you need to work."

"No, that's alright. I didn't take a break earlier, so I'm due for one." He wasn't actually lying, though in reality he pretty much hadn't accomplished any task yet, this morning. "Please, tell me more about yourself."

* * *

Penny got out of bed, thinking about last night. She really didn't deserve such a sweet guy like Leonard in her life. He'd been so great during her moment of insecurity, not pushing her when she first arrived and didn't talk to him at all. He hadn't laughed at her when she told him what had bothered her, hadn't made any accusations about her deceiving him with her grade on the first paper.

Instead, he'd been very supportive, letting her know she wasn't stupid, simply by pointing out her accomplishments. She felt a lot better, but she'd been so tired, she didn't actually go through with her planned thank you. Instead they'd just spooned and she'd fallen asleep in minutes. She'd have to make up for that tonight, especially since Leonard hadn't even brought it up after their shower.

She grabbed one of Leonards shirts and walked toward the kitchen area, ready to make some breakfast. While working on that, she thought back to yesterday, wondering why it had bothered her so much. Like Leonard had said last night, she usually didn't care what others thought of her.

But it hadn't been what others thought of her, she now realized. It had been about what she thought of herself. Plus, the fear that Leonard would sooner or later find a girl that was as smart as he was. Just like the way she felt when she found out he was partnered with a woman. Just like she'd told Linda, she'd been so relieved to find Sam was not at all interested in him.

But what about the next smart woman to cross his path, she asked herself. Would she be forever worried he'd dump her for someone smarter than she was? Then she smiled wistfully, as she realized her fears were so similar to Leonard's. She knew he was afraid she'd dump him for someone who was, in his eyes at least, more attractive, or taller.

So, perhaps she should take her own advice to him to heart herself. She'd told him to stop doing that to himself, that she was with him. Wasn't it true that she should just accept he'd chosen her, wanted to spend his life with her, if his proposals had been any indication.

* * *

"Why not," Melissa asked, a little hurt that he turned her down.

"You're Linda's best friend, I'm her adviser. It just would get awkward between the three of us."

Melissa smiled. "You do realize you'd be dating me, not the both of us."

He chuckled. "I do, and believe me, I don't have any such feelings toward Linda." He seemed to be looking for words. "I don't want to make you or her feel awkward."

Melissa smiled again. "I appreciate that, and I'm sure Linda appreciates that too. But you do realize she'd been trying to get us to go on a date, right?"

He looked incredulous. "She is? Are you sure?"

Melissa nodded. "Oh yeah, I'm sure. I'm also pretty sure she got your friend's girlfriend to help her out. You know, the one that works at the Cheesecake Factory."

"And you're sure Linda is okay with this?"

"Think about it, she invited you to lunch which she was supposed to have with just me. She only did that because..." She paused, not sure if she should let him know she'd already fallen for him the minute she'd seen him. "Because the day before she figured out I was interested in you."

He seemed to think about it, and then smiled. "Okay, we'll go out on a date. When is a good night for you?"

She smiled, happy he had finally accepted her invitation to go on a date. "How about Friday evening? I'll be finished around five at the Cheesecake Factory. I'd be ready to go around six."

He nodded. "Sounds good. If you'd like, I could come pick you up, or we could meet at the restaurant? What kind of food do you like?"

"I love Mexican food," she replied, still smiling. "If you have a pen and a piece of paper, I'll give you my address, so you could pick me up." She wrote down the address on the piece of paper he handed to her, and gave it back to him.

"Oh, that's just two blocks away from my place," he said, after reading the piece of paper.

* * *

Penny waited impatiently in the bedroom for Leonard to get back home. She'd put on a black teddy, knowing how Leonard preferred seeing her in black. In addition she wore the glasses and had opened one of his science books. She tried reading it, but most of it was too difficult to follow. It didn't matter; as soon as Leonard saw her he would make sure the book was the first to go.

She had to wait for almost half an hour when the apartment door finally opened, and Leonard called her name. "Bedroom," was her only reply. Seconds later Leonard entered the bedroom and stood still at the door, swallowing audibly. She glanced over the top of her glasses. "Hi, honey." She patted the bed. "Why don't you join me?"

She giggled when he practically ripped of his clothes, trying to join her as quickly as possible. He apparently noticed her book as he stepped in bed and simply said, "you're so hot," before kissing her passionately.

She returned the kiss with equal passion and smiled when Leonard tossed the book on the floor. She gently pushed him back on the bed and sat on his abdomen, caressing his chest before bending over to kiss him on the lips once again. "I know I kinda disappointed you last night, after hinting we'd do this then, but I was just too tired. So, I'm making it up to you now."

"I wasn't disappointed."

Penny raised her eyebrow. "Really?"

"Alright, I'd preferred it if you hadn't been too tired, but I'm not a total jerk and demand to have sex just because I want it."

She smiled. "I know. You're the kindest person I know. But still, I want to make it up to you, because I think you deserve it. Plus, you turn me on without even trying." She kissed him tenderly on the lips, deepening the kiss as their passion increased.

"I hope I'm not gonna regret this," Leonard asked when they ended the kiss, "but you're not upset anymore about what those students said?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I know now that I'm actually really smart."

Now Leonard raised his eyebrows. "How so?"

"I chose you as my boyfriend. I chose to ask you to move in together. Those are decisions only smart women make. Now shut up and let me give you the ride of your lifetime."


	4. The Concealment Experiment

"Gotten used to being a waitress yet?" Penny sat down opposite of Melissa, a bottle of water in her hand.

The other blonde smiled at her. "I actually have. I mean, I'm still tired as hell at the end of the shift, but not as much as I was during the first couple of days."

Penny nodded, knowing from experience how quickly you get used to do this work. "You'll always feel tired at the end, but I guess that's only normal, considering the amount of walking around we have to do."

"Are you going to do another shift," Melissa asked.

Penny shook her head and smiled. "Not tonight. Leonard said he and Sam wouldn't have to work late. We're going to a movie, with the whole gang."

"Oh, that's nice. Which one?"

Penny rolled her eyes. "Star Trek two."

Melissa laughed. "Just as big of a fan as I am, I see?"

Penny shrugged. "Too be honest, I did go and see the first one, when the guys were on their expedition to the North Pole, but I think that was mostly because I knew the guys would've gone, and I missed them, especially Leonard. It's not a bad movie, but sometimes just too confusing for me, because I'm not really invested in the whole franchise."

Melissa nodded. "I know what you mean. I've seen a number of movies on nights I just hung out with Linda, and most of them confused the hell out of me. I think Linda was going to see Star Trek as well, tonight. Must be the tenth time, by now."

"Yeah, most of the guys have seen it a few times as well. Except for Leonard and Sam, as neither had had the time to go and see it. And I didn't feel like going before, since it would only have reminded me that Leonard wasn't here."

Melissa nodded and glanced at the clock. "Well, I better get going, or I'm going to be late for my date. See you next week, Penny."

Penny had sat up straight at the mention of Melissa having a date, nearly spitting out her sip of water. She watched the blonde gather her things and, with a quick "have a nice weekend" left Penny sitting by herself. "Damn, she's going on a date." She had to discuss this with Linda and see what the deal was.

* * *

"Penny's going," Howard said, in an attempt to persuade his wife to come along to see the second Star Trek movie, again.

"Of course she is. She hasn't seen it yet, plus she wants to be with Leonard, who she hasn't seen much of this entire week. Amy's not going, for the exact same reason I'm not going. We just don't like that kind of movie. Seeing it once or twice we can live with, but that's about all we can take."

Howard understood his wife's refusal to go. Hell, he wouldn't have liked to be drug around to visit her parents every other weekend, and it really wasn't fair of him to even try to persuade her. "I know. I just don't think it's much fun anymore if you're not there." He paused, pondering, before continuing, "you know what, I'm going to cancel as well and just spend the evening with you. We can do whatever you want to do, since I feel like we've been doing mostly what I wanted for the past few months."

"Oh Howie, that's sweet of you, but you don't have to cancel."

"No, it's alright. Raj canceled earlier this afternoon and I know Amy's not coming. Leonard will have Penny, so I would get stuck with Sheldon. There's literally nothing you can ask me to do that would be worse than sitting through that movie with Sheldon's commentary."

"Well, I'm sure we can find a movie we'd both like to see." She smirked. "Or perhaps we can find some other activity to pass the time?"

* * *

Raj checked his appearance in the mirror one last time, before grabbing his keys and wallet. He felt nervous about going out on a date without consuming some alcohol first. Not to mention, his date was a very beautiful, young woman, which only made him more nervous.

He had thought about drinking just one glass of wine, or maybe a beer, just to get his nerves under control, but ultimately had decided against it. He knew what happened to his personality if he consumed alcohol. He wanted to make a good impression.

That's also why he'd decided on a texting date as the first real date with Lucy, when he still needed alcohol to be able to talk to women he was not related to. At least this time he didn't need to resort to his smartphone to have a conversation while remaining sober.

Of course, his experience with dates was rather limited, so there was no guarantee he wouldn't still shoot himself in the foot by saying something awkward, but at least he could keep a clear head.

He decided to walk toward Melissa's place. It was a beautiful evening and her place was only two blocks away from his. From her place, they'd only need to walk two blocks to get to the restaurant he'd decided on, so it seemed a bit useless to go by car. He was sure Melissa wouldn't mind.

He walked at a leisurely pace, so as to not arrive too early, allowing her to have enough time to get changed. He thought about what the gang would think if they knew he was going on a date with Linda's best friend. If Melissa was right, and he really had no reason to doubt her, Linda and Penny were already trying to get them to go out together and Melissa felt it would only serve them right by not telling them they were already going. Just let them try and get frustrated before revealing anything, she'd said.

He arrived at the building with Melissa's apartment almost a minute early. He quickly determined she was living on the third floor and used the stairs to give her some extra time to get ready. He knocked on her door and smiled as he heard her slightly muffled, "Just a sec."

Moments later the apartment door opened and Raj almost felt like he wouldn't be able to talk to her. She had a beautiful, dark blue evening dress on, and her blonde hair had been curled to frame her beautiful face. She was an absolute beauty, Raj thought to himself.

"Hi," she said timidly.

"Hi," he replied, glad that he was still able to talk. "Are you ready to go?"

She nodded and grabbed her purse, apparently lying on a little table positioned next to the door. She closed the door and asked, "where are we going?"

Raj smiled as he led her toward the elevator. "I remember you saying you love Mexican, and I know very good Mexican restaurant not far from here." They entered the elevator that had apparently been waiting on her floor. "It's two block away from here so I thought we'd walk there?" He looked at her feet and saw she was wearing heels, but they didn't appear to be so high as to making a two block walk uncomfortable.

"Sure, we can walk there. Don't worry, I'm used to walking in high heels, and these aren't so high anyway."

She'd obviously seen him checking out her footwear and Raj felt a little embarrassed. "I didn't think about that when I decided to come here on foot. I only realized this could be a problem when I suggested we'd walk there."

* * *

"Looks like it's just the three of us," Leonard said, raising his voice slightly for Penny's benefit. "Raj, Howard and Sheldon have all cancelled."

"That's probably better, since none of us have seen the movie yet, and they did," Penny replied from the bedroom. "Especially Sheldon is prone to tell you what's going to happen."

Leonard looked at Sam, seated on the sofa. "I think I told you about that time he seemed to go out of his way to spoil nearly every book or movie I hadn't had to chance to finish."

She nodded, "yes, I remember. I have to say, I really thought you were exaggerating, but I've lived across from him for only a week and I can see he might be even worse than Karen used to be."

"Used to be," Penny asked, returning from the bedroom.

Sam nodded. "Yes, she was quite stuck on schedules and routine. I taught her to let go of that a little, how to behave in social settings... wow."

Leonard repeated Sam's last word, as both finally looked at Penny, who simply grinned at them. "I take it you two approve of my dress choice?"

"Uh huh," Leonard said, nodding emphatically.

"Leonard, you are one lucky man," Sam said.

Leonard just grinned at Sam and then stood up and walked over to Penny. "Not that I'm complaining, but why are you all dressed up for a movie?"

"I want to look good for my man. He deserves to be seen with his girlfriend looking her best. Just think of all those jealous guys, wishing they were you."

Leonard grinned at Sam, who'd muttered, "not just guys." He turned back to Penny, "Like I said, I'm not complaining. So, we're ready?" At their confirming nod, he grabbed his keys and wallet. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

Melissa smiled at the man sitting across from her. She was enjoying this evening out. Raj was a real gentleman, who seemed very much in touch with his feminine side, but was clearly attracted to her. An attraction she felt for him as well, even more than she'd initially anticipated.

She did hope he wasn't expecting sex; she didn't feel ready for that yet, no matter how attracted she was to him. But she banished the thought from her mind, choosing to focus on the date and just enjoy the food and the company.

"So, you know all about me," Raj said, breaking the first real moment of silence this evening. "Tell me more about you."

"I grew up in Arcadia, just like Linda. You already know we met when we were just five. My parents divorced when I was six and I, like I know many children do, blamed myself for Dad no longer wanting to live with my mom and I."

She placed another fork full in her mouth, needing a little time to banish the sad memories. "I have no siblings, but I did have a few friends I remained close to, including Linda. I did pretty well in school, mostly because Linda helped me alot. And I was on my way to become one of the popular girls, but turned my back on that when I realized just how these girls were treating Linda and some of her other, smart friends."

She shook her head, feeling a little embarrassed that she'd even wanted to be part of that group. "I just couldn't turn my back on my friendship with Linda, I didn't want to. After high school I didn't want to go to college, so I started working to help mom pay the bills." She paused to think about talking about her dating experience, but decided against it, at least for now. He didn't need to know her attraction to rich and successful men, nor how each of them had managed to hurt her, despite the fact she never really loved any of them.

"When Linda moved here, I decided I'd rather come here as well, start a new life. I'm thinking about enrolling at the community college, once I'm settled and on my feet."

"Won't your mom miss you?"

Melissa nodded. "Yeah, I know she will. But she told me I should do what I want to do, and become good at it." She smiled, thinking of her mother. "I love her so much, and she loves me. And if she wants me to become good at what I want, then that's what I'm going to do. But I know she'll love me, no matter what." She noticed his smile as he looked at her.

"I'm sure you're going to succeed, in whatever it is you're going to do."

He sounded sincere, Melissa thought. That was actually the first time she was dating someone who was sincere about his feelings, someone who seemed genuinely interested in her, her dreams.

"So," he interrupted her thoughts, "what is it you're going to do?"

She blushed, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Well, I haven't really decided yet. But I think I want to be a teacher at an elementary school."

"Why are you embarrassed," Raj asked, again sounding sincere in his puzzlement. "There's nothing wrong with becoming a teacher!"

Melissa blushed again. "I guess it's just weird. I mean, I was never really interested in education."

"That might make you a very good teacher. Think about it," he continued at her questioning look, "you know what it's like to be in school when you're not interested. That could help you to make your classes more interesting for those children."

Melissa smiled, though she wasn't all that sure. Still, it was nice to have someone as highly educated as he was supporting her already, even though they were only dating.

* * *

"Linda," Penny yelled, as she spotted the grad student up ahead, getting ready to buy a ticket. Together with Leonard and Sam she hurried over to the young girl. "You're going to see Star Trek as well?"

Linda nodded. "Uh huh. It's going to be my eighth time, but I love that movie, and Star Trek in general."

Penny couldn't help but notice the glee the young woman felt to be able to see the movie again, and knew Leonard could be equally excited about Star Trek and countless other science fiction movies and shows. "The three of us haven't seen it yet. Leonard and Sam were at the North Sea when it came out, and haven't had the opportunity since. Do you want to join us?"

"Sure," Linda replied with a shrug. "I wanted to go with Melissa but she was otherwise occupied."

Penny nodded. "She told me she was going on a date." She could hear the sadness in her voice.

Linda didn't seem nearly as sad about it, and smiled gleefully. "I guess she didn't tell you with whom?"

Penny just shook her head and looked at her questioningly. "Why aren't you unhappy about this development?"

The smile turned into a grin. "I went to pick her up, not even knowing she was going on a date, and was surprised to see Dr. Koothrappali enter the building."

Penny's eyes went wide. "Holy crap on a cracker!"

"Uh huh, not five minutes later the two of them left, Melissa dressed up all nicely."

Penny squealed from happiness and hit Leonard's arm. "That's just great!" She turned to Leonard. "Isn't this great?"

* * *

Raj accompanied Melissa back to her apartment building, feeling pretty content. The evening had been wonderful, with no awkwardness whatsoever. He hadn't said or done anything stupid, and she hadn't climbed out of the bathroom window. All in all, this might just have been the best evening of his life.

He was fairly sure Melissa had enjoyed it as much as he had. After all, she had asked him if they could go to a movie on their next date and a girl wouldn't just ask that if she wasn't enjoying the company, of that he was certain.

He'd learned a lot about her, and he definitely liked what he had heard. His initial impression of her, a compassionate and beautiful girl, had been correct. But she was also pretty smart, which she would see for herself if she'd just stop comparing her intelligence to that of Linda, or his.

He had noticed she'd shunned the subject of her father. She probably didn't want to talk about him, because he had been the one who left her and her mother. He knew how that could hurt, because of his friendship with Howard, who'd gone through the same thing.

He held the door for her as they entered the building. Once the elevator arrived, he motioned for her to precede him. He then noticed a slightly worried look on her face. "Melissa, I like you very much, but I don't expect anything to happen. This was just our first date." She seemed relieved, but at the same time slightly disappointed. "Not that I would say no," he added with a grin.

She laughed at that. "Thanks. I just..." She seemed to be looking for the right words. "I really enjoyed this date. I just want to spend more time getting to know you before... you know."

He smiled as she rolled her eyes, clearly unhappy with how the words were coming out. "Like I said, I didn't expect it when we agreed to go on a date, and I would certainly not force you or anyone to do something they felt they were not ready for."

By that time, the elevator had brought them to the third floor, and Melissa started fishing for her key in her purse as they exited. Raj waited patiently until she finally found the key, and unlocked her apartment. "I do hope we can go on another date," Raj said, kicking himself for sounding so needy.

Melissa smiled up at him. "I'm sure we can. I don't know my schedule for next week, so I don't know if I'll be available on Friday night again."

Raj nodded. "I could give you my number? You can just text me, if you want to keep this from Linda and Penny for a while."

Melissa nodded and smiled, seemingly enjoying the fact they'd be frustrating the two of them. She grabbed her phone. "I definitely want to keep this from them."

Raj gave her his number and she stored it in her phone. "I already sent you a text, so you have my number as well," she said upon completing the task. She stored away her phone and looked back at him. "I really had a great time tonight."

"Yeah, me too," Raj answered, knowing he had a huge grin on his face but right now not caring about it at all.

"I'll let you know about next weekend as soon as I know which shifts I'll be working." Raj nodded in approval and was slightly surprised by the kiss on the cheek. "I guess I'll see you next weekend," she added, slightly blushing as if she hadn't actually intended to kiss him.

"Okay!" Raj replied.

* * *

"Bye Darlings. Have a good weekend."

Penny smiled. "You too, Sam." Penny waved as Sam entered the building she used to live in, next door the man that was now driving them to their apartment. Who'd have thought six years ago when she moved in and met the two geeky guys next door, she'd not only be dating one of them, but would move in with him. Definitely not her.

She glanced at Leonard as he navigated the streets towards their apartment, a smile on her face. He was the best guy she ever dated, by leaps and bounds. He was the only one she had truly loved, even if she'd tried to deny it for the longest time. But he'd stuck in there, remained her friend after she stupidly had broken up with him.

"Nothing," she replied to his raised eyebrow and his verbal request to know what was wrong. "I was just thinking how lucky I am to have found you, how much I love you."

"I love you too," he replied, the sincerity of his declaration very evident in the tone of his voice.

They went silent again, and Penny thought back to the early days, when there was no relationship, just friendship. Well, to her it had been just friendship, but even then she'd known Leonard was hoping for much more. The most obvious had been the one night he'd invited her to dinner. She had thought he meant with the gang, but he hadn't invited anyone but her. She smiled again at his denial of that night being a date, though it had obviously been one.

Penny knew it was probably for the best Leonard hadn't admitted to that night being a date; she hadn't been ready for that and she might have pushed him away harder. Instead, she'd taken his denial at face value, which had led to them becoming closer friends.

But she'd already had developed feelings for him, even back then. She'd been disappointed when she learned of his involvement with Leslie Winkle, and she'd been equally relieved to learn that to Leslie it had been nothing more than a one-night thing. You didn't feel things like that for a good friend, you felt that for someone you had much deeper feelings for.

While she'd been reminiscing, Leonard had brought them to their apartment building, and together they got out and walked towards their apartment, in comfortable silence. Once they were inside, Penny turned him to face her and kissed him, her arms moving to rest on his shoulders, her hands behind his neck.

When the kiss ended, they rested their foreheads against each other and Penny let out a sigh of contentment.

"Come on," Leonard said after a few seconds, dragging her toward the bedroom. "I haven't really seen the movie, because all I could think of was getting you out of that dress."

Penny smiled as she followed him willingly. "I thought you liked the dress."

"I did. Do. Whatever, you're just so hot looking, all I could think of was to get you home and naked."

Penny leaned against the bedroom door, as Leonard stripped himself, clearly not doing what he'd been thinking of the entire movie. "Does that mean we have to go watch it again," she asked with a mock note of fear.

He just smirked. "Obviously. But you're not allowed to wear anything sexy next time, or I never get to see the movie and be able to pay attention."

She walked over to him, putting her arms around his waist. "So, you'd like me to wear what, sweatshirt and sweatpants?"

He kissed her. "Hmm, you'd still look sexy, no matter what you wear. But I think I could manage to keep focused on the movie."

She smiled at him, when she felt him unzipping her dress. Seconds later her dress fell to the floor.

* * *

Raj entered his office, a light spring in his step. His date with Melissa, already two days ago, had been amazing. Saturday had been spent texting each other followed by an impromptu lunch date. Yesterday they'd been talking by phone for well over an hour, with Melissa ending the call by promising to let him know when she'd be available for another date as soon as she knew her schedule.

There was a knock on his door and he invited whoever was on the other side in. "Good morning, Linda." He could hear his happiness come through and decided to keep his emotions in check so as not to give away too much.

"Good morning, Dr. Koothrapalli," she replied, apparently in an equally good mood. "How was your weekend?"

He gave a shrug, trying desperately to hide his true feelings. "The usual. Hung out with my friends. How was your weekend?"

She smiled. "I went to see Star Trek again last Friday. I intended to take Melissa, but she had other plans. I worked on my research most of the weekend, though."

Raj frowned slightly. Melissa hadn't mentioned having to blow off Linda's invitation to see the movie. Not that that had been the focus of the evening.

"So, how was your date?"

Again, Raj frowned. He hadn't told anyone he was going on a date. "What date?"

"With Melissa, of course! So, how did it go?"

"I didn't have a date with Melissa." Was it his imagination, or had his statement really come out in a squeel?

"Yes you did. I saw you enter her building just as I arrived to invite her to the movie. Few minutes later, the two of you left, with Melissa in a dark blue evening dress."

Raj realized denying the date now was useless; they'd been seen. Instead he let his emotions show through in his reply. "It went really great!" He didn't miss the small fist pump and raised his eyebrow slightly but refrained from commenting. "She's letting me know her schedule for this weekend and if she's free one of the evenings, I'm taking her to see a movie."

* * *

Melissa wrote a text to Raj, informing him she'd have Friday night off, a smile on her face.

"I guess the date went well."

Melissa looked up at Penny, the smile still in place. "Oh yes. I just told him I'm available next Friday for a movie date." She put away her cell phone. "How was your weekend?"

"Not bad, considering I had to go see Star Trek."

Melissa mirrored the grin, knowing the feeling of having to sit through a movie you're not really interested in.

"Sheldon, Howard and Raj canceled, so it was only the four of us, until I spotted Linda."

Melissa laughed. "I told you Linda was gonna go again."

Penny smiled and took a sip of her coffee. "Yeah. You were lucky you had a date, because she was gonna invite you. She even went to your apartment building."

Melissa's smile felt her smile waver. "She did?"

Penny nodded, still smiling. "Yeah, she said she was there at seven."

Melissa looked at Penny suspiciously, feeling Penny seemed just a bit too… too smily. "She must have just missed me."

Penny's smile grew as she shook her head. "Nope."

"Ah, crap!" She realized she was a bit over reacting. After all, she'd only wanted to keep it a secret as a little payback to Linda for trying to set them up in the first place.

Penny placed her hand on Melissa's arm. "Don't worry, Sweetie. We won't interfere too much."

Melissa smiled. "Thanks, but we wanted to frustrate your and Linda's attempts at getting Raj and I to go out."

Penny smiled again. "That definitely would have worked if Linda hadn't spotted the two of you. Don't worry, no hard feelings. I probably would've done the same thing in your place."

Melissa glanced at her cell as it made the familiar sound to signal an incoming text. "He just gave me a heads up," she said with a smile, not looking up from the phone as she wrote her reply. "He invited me for dinner at his place some night this week," she said a few seconds after sending her message, looking up at Penny questioningly. "Is he a good cook?"

Penny nodded. "Oh yes, you'll won't regret it. You only need to worry if I invite you for dinner," she added with a wink.

* * *

"Good morning, darling."

Leonard looked up from his laptop. "Good morning, Sam." He noticed the look on her face and started to frown. "Did Sheldon give you trouble this morning?"

"I just don't understand why he insists on playing games. Some people just don't like that first thing in the morning."

Leonard heard the obvious annoyance in her voice. "You want me talk to him? I could try to get him to leave you alone in the morning."

Sam shook her head. "Better not. It just might make our daily trips more awkward." She hooked up her laptop and booted it. "I'm going to get some coffee. Do you want me to get you one?"

Leonard gave a nod. "Yes, please." He refocused on his laptop when Sam had left, going over the results the mainframe had computed on Friday night. The change proposed by Stephen Hawking didn't look too promising. He hadn't wanted to say that to the man and had therefore gone through with the simulation, but his gut feeling had told him it was the wrong direction.

"Here you go, love," Sam interrupted his train of thoughts. He looked up at her and said a quick thanks, before sitting up straight to stretch and yawn. He saw Sam log on on her laptop and glance at him with a smirk. "Did Penny keep you up late last night?"

Leonard knew he had a huge grin on his face. "More like waking me up early this morning." He shook his head. "Trust me, Penny isn't a morning person at all, so this was a huge surprise." He shook his head again, in an attempt to dispel the images from his mind. "Anyway, I got here a bit earlier than usual, so I went over the results." His disappointment in the results must have come through in the tone of his voice.

"Hmm, no good, I take it?"

"Nope. Definitely the wrong track there."

Sam nodded as she appeared to just go over his notes. "You know, I had a feeling this was the wrong direction, even when Dr. Hawking suggested it in his brief."

Leonard nodded. "So did I, actually. Anyway, I did get the data regarding the currents, both general streams as well as specific currents during the period just after the storms."

"And, were you correct in assuming the storms had influenced the experiments we performed right afterwards?"

Leonard shrugged. "I don't know, I haven't had time to go over them yet. I figured we could do that now, unless you want to go over the simulation results yourself."

Sam shook her head. "No, I know you already went over them, and your result analysis are always correct, at least they have been from the first time we became partners."

* * *

Penny finally allowed herself to let out a laugh she'd been holding for a few minutes, earning her a questioning gaze from both remaining experimental physicists. "Sorry, I'm not laughing at Dr. Hawking's expense. It just reminds me of the time Sheldon had an inflamed larynx and came to me using speech software on his laptop. It sounds exactly the same."

Leonard grinned. "He actually didn't have an inflamed larynx. Stephanie made that up so he would shut up and leave us alone."

Penny's face clouded over at the mention of the medical doctor, even though Leonard and her hadn't even been together when he hooked up with Stephanie.

"Who's this Stephanie," Sam asked.

"A girl he dated before he and I became a couple," Penny said, trying to be casual about it, but the tone of her voice didn't quite sound so casual.

"She's a medical doctor," Leonard added, apparently oblivious to Penny's discomfort. And did she imagine it, or was there a note of pride in his voice? "Of course that made Sheldon wanting her to test him for whatever crazy thing he thought he might be suffering from. And he constantly interfered in our dates. So, Stephanie invented an inflammation of the larynx to shut him up."

Sam laughed. "That was a good idea."

Penny smiled, despite still feeling jealous of Leonard and Stephanie's relationship, however brief it had been. "Yeah, well he came knocking on my door, using his laptop to ask me for some tea and some 'hiney.'"

All three laughed. "Knowing Sheldon," Leonard finally said, "I know he must have accidentally mistyped the word honey. It's not like him to do something like that on purpose."

"Yes, I have been wondering about that," Sam replied. "I know he has a girlfriend, but they rarely are together, and they never seem to stay over at each others place. What's the deal?"

Penny shook her head. "Where to start?" She hadn't intended for either one of them to hear, but they did anyway. "Well, Sheldon has been uncomfortable with human interaction, especially touch, most of his life. He's always been adamant he would never have an intimate relationship with anyone."

Leonard nodded, and picked up. "However, a couple of months before the expedition, he confided to us that he feels that an intimate relationship with Amy is no longer an impossibility."

Penny nodded, a smile forming as she remembered her own shock at Sheldon's admission. "Plus, a few weeks before Leonard left, we were playing DnD and..."

"You," Sam asked, with a definite note of incredulity in her voice.

Penny pretended to be hurt by the very question, though knowing full well why Sam had questioned the casual mention of a game of dungeons and dragons. "Yes, me. I also play Halo. Got a problem with that?"

Sam raised her hands in defense. "No, no, of course not, love. You just don't seem the type to be engaging in those types of games."

Penny smiled, letting Sam know she wasn't serious. "Hello, dating Leonard, remember? It was only inevitable I would get into some of that stuff eventually. Doesn't mean I'm good at it, or even understand the appeal."

"Don't let her fool you," Leonard said in a mock conspiratorial, loud whisper. "She's really good at Halo, pretty much kills whoever gets in her way. She might even play it more often than any of us guys."

Penny looked at Leonard, feigning annoyance. "Anyway, I suggested Sheldon and Amy's characters should engage in something more physical in the game. Of course, I had some alcohol in me and wasn't thinking straight, and missed the fact the suggestion was hurting Amy."

Penny leaned on one of the worktables, suppressing the memories of the 'work' Leonard and she had done on the very same table she was currently leaning on. "Anyway, Amy left and went into Sheldon's room. Later she told me Sheldon had told her he was no longer ruling out a future intimate relationship. And, they continued the love spell in his bedroom."

"I see," Sam said, seemingly mulling over the information given so far. "I must see if I can get Karen to start a relationship with someone. She has much of the same problems as Sheldon, when it comes to human interaction, social conventions, and intimacy."

"Howard and Raj just entered Sheldon's information on an online dating site," Leonard replied. "They answered the questions as they thought Sheldon would. Amy turned out to be Sheldon's perfect match. And trust me, initially she really was just a female version of Sheldon, but along the way she started to want more out of the relationship. As a neurobiologist, she seems to adapt more easily to social conventions."

"Yeah," Penny continued, "but she still manages on occasion to say the weirdest things. But all things considered, they are a cute couple. For Amy's sake, I hope Sheldon wakes up one day soon, and moves forward in their relationship."

After Sam had mulled all of this over she shrugged. "I guess I can just try the same route, or perhaps I can find another way to get Karen to be more human."

Leonard looked at Penny. "So, to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?"

"Yes," Sam piped up. "Have you actually come here before?"

Penny nodded emphatically and grinned. "Oh yes. Several times, actually." She smirked at Leonard when she noticed he blushed slightly, while simultaneously his eyes glazed over in apparent remembrance.

Sam had turned to Leonard and began to chuckle. "Oh, darling. Do you want me to go wait in the cafeteria for a while?"

Penny giggled. "While that would certainly be enjoyable, that is not why I'm here this time. I know it's a bit short notice, but Wednesday evening our acting class is performing 'Talking with' and I was wondering if the two of you would like to see? I'm doing the 'audition' and the 'marks' monologues!" She was excited to play those two. They suited her better than she had anticipated.

Leonard cleared his throat, in an obvious attempt to dispel his discomfort at the earlier reference to certain activities Penny and he had engaged in less than a year ago. "Of course I want to see! I love watching you perform on stage, you know that."

Sam smiled and nodded. "Sounds lovely, darling. I'll be there."


	5. The Sleep Deprivation Factor

"Leonard's old room is completely empty!"

Sheldon turned around, surprised that Amy was not only still in his apartment, but she had also gone into Leonard's old room. He waved his hand dismissively. "Yes, I'm currently looking for a replacement for Leonard's replacement." He was proud he didn't actually exhibit his nervous twitch, that normally always came when he wasn't telling the complete truth. Or in this particular case, a bold-faced lie. He wondered if he should worry about the fact lying seemed to become easier, but quickly dismissed the thought, opting to focus on the verbal battle with Amy, which he was sure was going to follow.

Amy walked over and stood very close to him, looking down from her standing position. "Sheldon, what's going on? You said the new roommate, who nobody but you has ever seen apparently, was the ideal roommate. You haven't complained to any of us once that the new roommate wasn't working out, yet he has suddenly left."

"Amy, there is nothing in the relationship agreement that states I have to..."

"Oh, screw the relationship and roommate agreements!"

Sheldon was taken aback by this sudden outburst. Amy wasn't prone to get that angry with him, certainly never so bad that she would actually use a curse word. He wondered what had angered her. She couldn't know he was lying and he hadn't said anything that could have been misconstrued. Yet, here she was, angry with him, not even wanting to listen to logical arguments.

"Sheldon, just talk to me. What is really going on?"

He detected a note of worry, though he couldn't understand why she was worried. It didn't really concern her, it didn't affect her in any way. She definitely didn't have to worry about him; he was doing fine living all by himself. During those four months that Leonard had been gone, he'd found he liked having the apartment all to himself. He'd done some calculations, and found he could afford to live in this apartment alone.

There would be less money for him he could set aside for special trips or purchases, but that didn't outweigh the benefits of not having to deal with a roommate on a daily basis. So, knowing Leonard wouldn't have memorized all the different clauses in the roommate agreement, he invented the three month absence rule as a way to get him out of the apartment.

Perhaps not the nicest way of dealing with it, but he had had no intention to explain and defend his desire to live alone from that point forward. Sheldon briefly wondered whether the fact Leonard had booked some remarkable success by himself had been a factor. Would jealousy have influenced his decisions and resulting actions? That didn't seem very likely. Emotions didn't influence him, he influenced them.

"Fine, don't talk to me then. But don't come crying later when you're in too deep and need my help!"

"Amy, wait." He waited for her to turn back to him. "I like living alone." There, he said it.

She walked back to him, hesitantly, mouth open. "You... like living alone?"

He tilted his head slightly. "Yes, that is what I said."

"What does that mean?"

Sheldon folded his arms in front of his chest which he realized, thanks to Penny, meant he actually was actually closing himself off. "I would think the statement is self explanatory. It means I enjoy the fact I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. It means, I don't have to deal with nonsensical queries at all times of the day, always interrupting whatever I'm doing or watching. I do not have to worry if a guest will be staying the night, usually unannounced, despite the forty-eight hour notice clause."

"When did you decide this?"

Sheldon felt his eye twitch, which made sense, given the fact he had suddenly become very nervous. He was nervous about the consequence of the information he was about to give. There would be fallback, he was sure. Then again, perhaps it would be better to get the whole truth out, so he wouldn't have to think of any situation and his appropriate response ahead of time. "When Leonard was at sea."

Amy's hand went to her mouth. "Sheldon, did you kick Leonard out so you could live here alone?"

Sheldon heard something in her voice. If he wasn't mistaken, it was a sign of disappointment in him, should his answer be an affirmative. "There were a lot of things he's done wrong over the years we shared this apartment."

Amy turned around. "I don't think I want to talk to you for a while."

"Are you disappointed in me?" He just needed to ask, needed to be sure he read the signs correctly.

"Disappointed, angry, take your pick!"

Sheldon stared at the door Amy had slammed shut on her way out. "At least I got the disappointed part correct." He turned back to his laptop and resumed his work.

* * *

"You were amazing, Penny," Sam said again as they got into the car. "It was very powerful, the way you balanced the comedy with the emotional issues underneath. And you seemed so natural on that stage."

"Aw, thanks, sweetie."

Leonard started the car but turned to Penny before driving off. "Honey, Sam is right. You look very natural, like you belong there. I think you're a good actress."

She looked back at him and turned further to glance at Sam. "Really?"

Leonard heard the insecurity in her voice, like she didn't dare to believe she was any good. He didn't like hearing her be so insecure.

"Darling, trust Leonard and I. You are amazing on stage."

Leonard saw her turn back with a 'huh', signaling to him she didn't really believe it yet, but not wanting to discuss the matter at all. With a small sigh he put the car in reverse and eased out of the parking spot. He tuned out the talk between the women, but not before finding out the topic was the recent date between Raj and Melissa.

Instead, Leonard tried to think of what to tell her later, to let her know just how good she is as an actress. Then again, why would she accept his word, or that of Sam or any of their friends? None of them had anything to do that involved acting, so why would she trust their opinions? Maybe it would be better to not mention it at all. He really didn't want them to end up fighting over her acting abilities, even though he felt she was very good at it. "Huh?" Leonard glanced at Penny and then at Sam through the rearview mirror, certain he'd heard his name, and almost certain it wasn't the first mention of his name.

Penny smiled at him. "Sam asked if we wanted to come up with her and have a drink."

"Oh," he replied, glancing at the little clock in the car. "Sure. That is, if you want to?" He glanced at Penny again.

She smiled again. "I hope you paid more attention to driving then you did to us. I already said I wouldn't mind, before asking you. Three times."

He grinned, hearing the teasing tone in her voice. "Yeah, well, as soon as you started talking about Raj and Melissa, I kinda tuned you out." He signaled and turned into the parking lot he had always parked at when he still lived here. "Hey, there's Amy," he said pointing at the woman as she walked across the parking lot toward her car.

"Uh oh," Penny said, worry for her friend coming through her voice. "She's upset. I wonder what Shelbot did this time."

Sam laughed at that. "Shelbot?"

Penny turned around to face her. "Sheldon has the same range of emotions as a robot, so sometimes I call him Shelbot."

Leonard smiled and nodded. "The guys and I have been known to compare him to C3PO, though that's also because they look and act remarkably alike." He parked his car next to Amy's, who hadn't made it to her car yet. Penny was out of the car as soon as he was done, walking in the direction Amy was coming from.

Leonard locked the car once Sam and he had exited and the two of them walked over to where Penny was currently hugging Amy.

"It's alright sweetie, just let it out." Her facial expression, at Leonards questioning gaze, indicated she had not yet learned the reason for Amy's current state.

Amy apparently noticed Leonard. "Oh, Leonard, I'm so sorry."

Leonard looked confused, not quite understanding why she had to be sorry for anything. "Why, what happened?"

"Because Sheldon kicked you out." Amy's reply was interrupted twice by sobs. "He didn't get a new roommate, either. He just liked living alone."

Leonard nodded, contemplating this new information. "Amy, you don't need to apologize for anything. Heck, even Sheldon doesn't need to apologize, as far as I'm concerned. His choice has in fact improved both our lives."

Penny, still holding Amy, smiled at Leonard before addressing the woman in her embrace. "He's right, sweetie. There's no need to be upset over this. I was going to ask Leonard to move in anyway, remember."

Amy's sobs slowly ebbed away. "I guess. I'm just really disappointed in Sheldon. He admitted to kicking you out, just so he could continue to live like he'd gotten used to during those months you were gone. I'm pretty sure there wasn't even a three-month-absence clause in the roommate agreement."

Leonard shrugged. "That's possible. I don't really remember much of what is in there, except for the ones that got me in trouble."

Penny had let go of Amy, but still had a look of concern on her face. "Amy, are you going to be alright driving home?"

Amy nodded. "Yes, I think so. I'll just wait for a few minutes before I drive."

Sam finally spoke. "You are welcome to join us for a drink in my apartment."

* * *

Melissa unlocked her apartment door, turned around, and looked up at Raj's face, a smile forming on its own, just by looking at him. "Thank you for inviting me for dinner. It tasted absolutely wonderful." It really had, which had surprised her, despite the fact that Penny had assured her he was a good cook.

He just beamed at her. "You're welcome. I enjoyed cooking for you."

Melissa felt herself start to blush, and looked down briefly, attempting to hide it from him. "So, we're still on for a movie date Friday?" Ugh, why did she sound so insecure?

"Absolutely," Raj answered enthusiastically, and then seemed embarrassed by his strong reaction. Melissa smiled again, and then stood on her toes, to grab his face and guide his mouth to hers, kissing him lovingly. With difficulty she managed to break the kiss, before it got out of hand. She sighed. "Thanks again for a wonderful night, Raj. I really had a great time."

"Yeah, me too," he answered with a smile.

They stood like that, with Raj's hands resting on her hips and hers still around his neck, for a little while, before they finally said their goodbyes, with another tender kiss.

Melissa leaned against the now closed apartment door, replaying the entire evening in her mind. He'd let her look through his telescope, pointing out interesting things in the night sky, explaining things at what she knew was a very basic level for him. They'd talked, while he was busy making their dinner, Melissa enjoying to just listen to his voice and watch him confidently working in his kitchen.

The food had been absolutely wonderful, almost as good as any restaurant she'd ever been to. They'd talked more during dinner, just about their days at work. He'd turned down her offer to help him clean up afterwards, telling her he was perfectly capable of doing that himself.

So, while he'd cleaned of the table and rinsed the pots and pans he used, she had moved to his sofa and turned on the television. Not that she had really focused on whatever was on. No, she'd glanced at him often, just wanting to see him move around.

When he'd finally joined her on the sofa, she hadn't been able to help herself and had initiated a kiss, that had turned into a heavy make-out and cuddle session. There definitely was a physical attraction, Melissa now realized. And not just her to him; he was just equally attracted to her, she could tell.

Melissa had realized even then they were getting dangerously close to her ending up in bed with him, and she wasn't sure she was ready for that step, yet. Luckily, Raj had defused the tension, obviously noticing her discomfort, and they'd just watched some television.

He had then insisted he'd walk her home, not caring that she assured him she'd be fine walking the two blocks by herself. On the way to her apartment they'd been holding hands, and the waiting for the elevator to arrive had been spent kissing, as had the ride up to the third floor.

Melissa finally opened her eyes, noticing it was still dark. Her hand went to the light switch before walking slowly toward her bedroom. She could feel the smile on her face and her memory conjured up another image of Raj. She undressed slowly and, with his face still in her mind, went to look for her pajamas.

* * *

Penny entered the break room of the Cheesecake Factory, spotting Melissa almost immediately. The young woman sported a dreamy look, and Penny instantly realized what, or rather who was on her mind. She sat down opposite of her, but didn't say anything yet. Clearly Melissa hadn't even noticed her arrival.

Penny's eyes fell on the newspaper Melissa had apparently been reading before her mind had refocused on her dinner date at Raj's. Penny read the headline and realized the paper was opened on a theater review page. She turned the paper toward her and found the main review was actually about their performance last night.

She read it, despite her fear her performance was going to be burned to the ground. Instead, the critic had been very kind of the performance as a whole, and specifically mentioned her performance as 'audition' and 'marks,' claiming they were the highlights of an already entertaining evening.

"Oh, hi, Penny."

Penny looked up with a smile. "I didn't want to intrude on your daydreams. Another successful evening, I take it."

Melissa simply nodded, her smile getting wider. "Oh definitely. You were right; he's a great cook." She nodded at the paper. "I read your performance last night went well?"

"Yeah, apparently." She still felt unsure about her abilities, she realized.

Melissa clearly noticed, and frowned at her. "The critic wrote that your two parts were the highlights of the evening."

Penny sighed, and pushed the paper out of the way. "I know. I guess I'm not really allowing myself to believe it just yet. Besides, it's the amateur acting section. It's not a big deal to get a good review there." Of course, that wasn't entirely true; talent scouts would check these section regularly, and might even pay a visit to a second performance, if there would be one, or come to a different performance with the same actors. "So, tell me about your evening," Penny attempted to change the subject.

* * *

Linda kept glancing at Dr. Koothrappali every so often. She knew last night Melissa had gone to his apartment for a dinner, and by the looks of it, the evening had been a great success, at least for her advisor.

He kept zoning out for minutes at a time, a goofy grin on his face. Linda was glad her best friend and her advisor seemed to hit it off, and hoped things would continue to go well. Melissa deserved to be with someone who for once was nice to her, and not cheating on his wife with her, or abuse her, or both.

Linda loved Melissa, but her friend had made some pretty bad decisions when it came to relationships. For whatever reason, she always went for the rich, successful men, often quite a bit older than her. And most of them had hidden their marriage from her, at least, Linda hoped Melissa hadn't know about it, and knowingly put herself in those situations.

* * *

Sam went over the numbers one more time, needing to be sure there were no mistakes being made. It took her only a minute or two, before she turned toward Leonard with a grin. "Looks like you were right about the storm influence."

Leonard nodded, "yeah, that my conclusion as well. Question is, did it knock us off track, or did it more or less force us to change to the right course of action?"

Sam shrugged. "Only one way to determine that, I suppose. We could each try a different approach, or work together on both."

Leonard nodded, deep in thought. "My suggestion is to each work on one approach, at least until we know if one or the other is wrong."

"Alright with me, darling," Sam agreed. "Since you were the first to think about the storm being an influence, I propose you work on our initial protocol, and I will attempt to improve on our last version."

When Leonard agreed, she opened the document with their last protocol version, and began reading it once more. She was interrupted some indeterminate time later by Leonard's question.

"Did you read the review of Penny's play last night?"

Sam turned to Leonard and shook her head. "No, I didn't. Was it good?" His grin told her it was, but she read the review he had just transferred to her laptop. "Wow, this guy was really praising her performance."

"Mm hmm," Leonard agreed, clearly proud of his girlfriend, and rightfully so. "I've also sent it to her, so she could read it as well." He glanced at his clock and added, "I'm going over to the cafeteria for lunch. You're coming too, or are you going to have lunch later?"

Sam glanced at the clock, surprised to see it was just past one already. "Sound wonderful, darling."

* * *

"Oh, hello Leonard," Sheldon greeted the man he still considered his best friend. "Dr. Green," he said with a nod at the female experimental physicist, still uncomfortable around her ever since his attempt at a proper introduction. It had been another example of why he found social conventions cumbersome. He'd gone over, despite his apprehension before hand, and she'd derailed his well planned, well rehearsed conversation in mere seconds.

As the two sat down, Sheldon asked, "How are your experiments going?" Not that he was all that interested, but showing interest, even if feigned, was the social norm, if no other topic came to mind.

"It's going pretty good so far," Leonard replied. "Stephen Hawking will return to England tonight, and allow Sam and I to continue our experiments and simulations."

Sam nodded. "Yes, Dr. Hawking felt he was more of a burden to our experiments, because he can't express his thoughts as quickly."

Sheldon nodded, understanding how it would be. "It must be very frustrating for such a great mind to be limited by an uncooperating body. It's not unlike my body's need for sustenance and rest." Sheldon noticed an all familiar look from Leonard.

"Yeah, that's almost the same, Sheldon."

If he hadn't noticed the look, he wouldn't have realized he was being sarcastic, though for what reason, Sheldon was not sure. After all, it was almost the same; Stephen Hawking could not use his mind to his full potential, and neither could he, albeit for dissimilar reasons.

"How was last night?"

Sheldon put down his fork. "It was horrible. Both Penny and you were at the theater, Howard wasn't feeling well, Raj had a date. I didn't get to go to the comic book store, or play Halo. Amy came by, but didn't want to go to the comic book store with me, so I ended up having to suffer through an impromptu date night. Honestly, you could try to accommodate to my schedule a little better."

"It's not like we have a say on which evening Penny's acting class book their performances," Leonard said, not at all sounding very apologetic. "So, how did your evening with Amy go?"

Sheldon couldn't quite place the tone, or the body language. It didn't seem like a typical Leonard mannerism, but what it did represent, he wasn't quite sure. "It wasn't too terrible. I let her watch a TV show, and I busied myself on the computer."

* * *

Penny let out a surprised squeak when Leonard's arms encircled her from behind, waking her up. "Geez, Leonard! Were you trying to give me a heartattack?"

"Sorry, I thought you had heard me enter and were pretending to be asleep."

She turned around in his embrace. "Sorry, I couldn't stay awake." She smiled. "I was dreaming about you, though."

He grinned, before kissing her shoulder blade. "I'm sorry it turned out to be another late night."

She smiled and turned around further to face him, pressing herself closer to him. "It's alright, honey. I understand you and Sam are under a lot of pressure. As long as you don't make this a habit, we're not going to have a problem."

She snuggled even closer to him and told him about her day, which hadn't been all that interesting, and the topic turned to the review. "I don't know, Leonard. It's an amateur theater review, not likely to be picked up by someone that could really help my career."

"Well, you never know. I remember you once telling me that talent scouts regularly read those reviews and check out if there's anyone interesting."

Great, he remembered. Didn't he understand she was just trying to not get her hopes up about one very good review? Not wanting to get into an argument with him, especially not when both were pretty tired, she said, "we'll see." She looked up at him. "So how was your day?"

She placed her head back to rest on his chest, and listened to him telling about his day, which had gone great until a problem with the mainframe had caused Sam and him having to stay late to get their simulation running over night. She enjoyed listening to him, even if she couldn't understand most of what he was telling.

There was just something about him talking about science that made her horny, as was the case right now, despite her earlier nipping an argument in the bud because of her tiredness. The tiredness was now definitely vanishing, leaving in its place a very lustful state. Her body began to react and the way she was pushed up against him, Leonard was bound to notice some of her physical reaction.

A slight smile formed when she noticed Leonard's usual ease with talking science was starting to show signs of becoming slightly more difficult, a sign that he was turned on by her getting aroused. She let her hand travel down to find evidence this was indeed the case.

She straddled him, kissing him tenderly on the lips before trailing kisses from his chin, along his neck to his chest. She looked up at him with a smile. "Keep talking, Dr. Hofstadter. I like it when you talk science to me."

"I noticed," he replied, a goofy grin on his face that told her he had known for a while that him talking science to her had this particular effect. "I think I found my superpower."

"Not cool, Leonard," she said, before placing another kiss on his chest, grinning against his skin, as he quickly reverted to talk about his experiment and the theory behind it.

* * *

"You look like crap," Melissa said in sympathy as she saw Penny walking in. "Are you sick?"

Penny shook her head and yawned. "No, just didn't get enough sleep."

Despite the obvious tiredness, Melissa heard a touch of happiness in Penny's voice, which was a good indication why she hadn't gotten enough sleep.

She smiled. "I take it Dr. Hofstadter also had trouble sleeping?"

Penny giggled. "Yeah, I'm sure he's getting a lot of coffee right now." She sat back, closing her eyes. "I'm so glad I only have half a shift today."

Melissa smiled. "Does Dr. Hofstadter have a short work day as well?"

Penny shook her head. "No, but I didn't hear any complaints."

Melissa snorted. "Duh, he was having sex with his girlfriend. Guys have a tendency to not complain when they're getting some."

Penny smiled, cracking one eye open. "I guess, though he did propose to me once."

Melissa's eyes went wide. "He didn't!"

Penny nodded, and then took a sip from her coffee. "Trust me, he did. Talk about awkward."

"But you turned him down?"

"Mm-hmm," she replied with another nod. "And that wasn't his only proposal, either." She took another sip. "Anyway, after that last incident, we agreed I'd be the one to propose, when I feel ready."

Melissa thought she heard something in Penny's voice that told her the woman was getting close to being ready, if not already there. "You're already thinking about it aren't you."

Penny shrugged. "I feel more ready to take that step. It's just... it's a big step, you know? I mean, what if we get married and Leonard decides he's had enough of me?"

Melissa raised her eyebrow. "What if you're not married and he decides he's had enough, which by the way, I highly doubt will happen?" When the woman across from her kept silent for a few seconds, she added, "wouldn't the effect be the same?"

Penny formed a small smile. "You know, that's the first time I looked at it from that angle?"

* * *

Sam glanced at Leonard once more and found he was still asleep at his desk with his head next to his computer keyboard, resting on his stretched-out arm . She smiled but let him sleep, figuring he just needed it. At least he'd worked the morning, only giving into his need to sleep after lunch.

She knew he probably wasn't very comfortable, but she was nearly done and ready to go home early; given his state, she figured she'd better drive him home, or he'd might cause an accident.

She turned to the door when she heard a soft knock and was it was Howard. "Hello," she said in a whisper, trying to not awaken Leonard.

"Hey," he replied in a similar whisper and followed it with a nod to Leonard. "If you want, I could take him home in his car? Bernie was going to pick me up today, but I could ask her to meet me at his place, instead."

Sam looked at Leonard, who really looked uncomfortable yet very tired. It would probably be easier if his friend took him in his own car. "That might be for the best," she agreed.

Together they managed to get Leonard awake enough to get him to his own car, though he kept arguing he should stay and finish his work. "You didn't manage to do any work since lunch, darling. Stop fussing and go home to get some proper rest." Sam realized he probably hadn't heard more than the first three words, as he was already fast asleep in the passenger seat. "Will you be alright getting him in the apartment?"

"I've lived there and on occasion had to get Bernie in there when she was nearly asleep. I'll just need to get him wake enough that I don't have to carry him and we'll be fine."

* * *

"Hi, honey," Howard greeted his wife, following it up with a kiss. He then opened Leonards door and tried to get him awake enough to make it to his apartment. With the help from Bernadette, they managed to get him out of the car all the way to his apartment, their old apartment.

It took a few seconds before and equally tired and sleepy Penny answered their knocks, causing Howard to realize the cause. "Oh, poor honey," Penny said in a sleepy sounding voice. "This is all my fault."

"Well, I'm guessing Leonard didn't complain," Howard said, winking. "Let's get him to bed so he can get some sleep. And I do mean actual sleep." The three of them guided Leonard to the bedroom.

"Don't worry, Howard. I'm not going to be doing anything but sleep myself," Penny assured him, punctuating her sentence with a loud yawn. "I'll take care of his clothes and get him in bed," Penny assured them when Howard was starting to undress Leonard.

"Are you sure," Howard asked, not at all convinced Penny could manage.

Penny just waved her hand. "Yeah, sure. I've done tougher jobs on a farm than getting Leonard out of his clothes. I'll manage."

Howard glanced at Bernadette, who simply shrugged, so he turned back to Penny. "Okay, then. I guess Bernie and I will leave the two of you alone then." They said their goodbyes and he and Bernadette walked toward her car.

"Looks like they were quite busy last night," Bernadette said as she clicked her car's unlock button.

"Yeah," Howard said, looking back toward the apartment before getting in the car. "I applaud their perseverance, but they could've picked a better night."

"Well," Bernadette said as she started the car but turned to him. "Neither one of us has to work tomorrow. Wanna see if we can go all night?"

Howard grinned and leaned over to kiss her. "Why are we still here then?"

* * *

Penny had a little trouble trying to get Leonard undressed, but still got him down to just his boxers in just a minute. She removed the shirt she had put on when there was a knock on her door and climbed back into bed, shuffling backwards until almost all of her body was pressed up against him.

She grabbed his arm to gently drape it over her body, holding his hand just below her breasts, and let out a sigh of contentment. The next thing she knew, she awoke with a start, not entirely sure what had caused it.

"I think you got a text," Leonard murmured behind her, still sounding pretty tired. He simply pulled her closer to him. "I'm sure it can wait."

Penny smiled, glad to hear his voice at last; he hadn't said a single word ever since Howard and Bernadette had brought him home and she had missed his voice. "You're right, honey. Let's just go back to sleep." The soft snores told her he'd already fallen asleep, another indication of just how tired he was.

Penny, however, wasn't as tired anymore. She glanced at the alarm clock, which told her it was now almost seven thirty. Of course she wasn't as tired as Leonard; she'd slept pretty much the entire afternoon, comfortably in their bed. Leonard had only managed to sleep a little at work in what Penny could only imagine as a very awkward, painful position. She remembered he came home at just past four, so he definitely needed more rest.

Penny decided to stay in bed, allowing Leonard to hold her as he slept. She'd caused him to miss a lot of sleep last night, the least she could do now was to allow him to sleep while holding her. Besides, she liked laying like this, had always liked it even after their first night together.

That had been a completely new experience, she remembered. None of her former lovers or boyfriends had ever cuddled with her, not just to be close, and definitely not if sex was not in the future. No, they'd all had their fun with her and then were fast asleep.

Not Leonard. He cuddled with her, he stayed awake to talk with her if she needed to. He would make her feel loved and protected. Special. Yes, that's what he made her feel; special. Again, she wondered why she had fought her feelings for him for so long, why she couldn't have just told him she loved him after he'd told her the first time.

And then there was the whole marriage proposal thing. Her talk with Melissa this morning had really gotten her thinking about it. Her fear was 'illogical' as Spock would say, the joke in her mind bringing a smile on her face; even if for some reason Leonard would decide he didn't want to be with her, being married or not would make no difference to the level of devastation she'd feel. It would kill her, she'd feel unloved, that nobody would ever want to be with her, at least not forever.

But did she feel ready to propose to him? In all honesty, she didn't feel ready to take that step. Asking him to move in with her had been a big deal, asking him to be her husband would probably freak her out. Besides, the man was supposed to 'pop the question.' Penny decided that, once she felt ready, she would start dropping hints, hoping for a real proposal, and not one in the heat of the moment.

* * *

"Hi," Amy said as Sheldon answered her knock. She decided she needed to talk to him, explain to him how selfish and wrong he'd been for evicting his roommate for no other reason than to be able to live alone.

"Hello Amy," he answered, opening the door further to invite her in.

She entered the apartment and immediately went to sit on the sofa, gesturing for Sheldon to sit next to her in his own spot. "Sheldon, I'm sorry for running out on you the other day. I wasn't exactly angry, but I was extremely disappointed in you selfishness and treatment of your best friend."

Sheldon nodded. "I think I understand that. The past few days I have been thinking about my actions and how problematic it could have been for Leonard if Penny hadn't asked him to live with her." He shook his head. "I really hadn't considered that part when I came up with the absence rule as the basis of removing him from the apartment."

Amy looked closely to make sure he was telling the truth, suppressing a sigh when she realized that up until Leonard's return it had been so easy. Somehow Sheldon had learned to tell a lie without exhibiting his usual nervous twitch. Now she had to actually pay attention to the little details in body language and facial expression which, given Sheldon's usual rigid control, was quite a bit harder than when she tried reading other people's body language or facial expressions.

"And for the record, Leonard is still my best friend, and I am sorry I did this to him." He turned his head away momentarily. "I probably should have told him that yesterday during lunch." He waved his hand dismissively. "I just tell him next time. He doesn't even know his eviction was based on a ruse."

Amy winced. "Actually, he does." At his questioning gaze she elaborated, "Penny and he were just dropping of Sam after the play when I walked to my car. They noticed I was upset, and I told them why."

Sheldon seemed to consider that. "Ah, so that's what the tone of his voice indicated," he said with a nod. "When I told him you had spend the evening here, he asked how my evening with you had gone, but he had this tone of voice that I couldn't quite place."

Amy smiled. "He was probably trying to make you feel uncomfortable, and perhaps hoping you would just tell him what had happened." They were silent for a minute, before Amy cleared her throat. "Sheldon, what really upset me is that it has apparently become so easy for you to lie to people, to me!"

He looked at her with a confused look. "That is not true. Lying hasn't been, and will never be easy for me. You don't seem to understand how much practice and thinking ahead it required to lie to all of you, and especially to you, Amy. That's the sole reason I didn't lie to you the other night. I simply had not anticipated anybody finding out that I was the sole occupant of the apartment. If I had anticipated that situation, I most likely would have lied to you."

Amy didn't like hearing that at all. "Oh, really? You would have just continued lying to us, to me?" She calmed herself down, hearing the slightly hysterical quality of her own voice. "Sheldon, how will I ever be able to trust you to not lie? I thought our relationship was based on trusting each other to tell the truth implicitly, but you have broken that trust."

He turned to her fully, unexpectedly grabbing her hand. Amy didn't dare say anything, as she was sure he wasn't even aware he grabbed it in the first place. Instead she forced herself to focus on his words. "Amy, nothing has changed in regard to our relationship. I have never lied to you about our relationship and its status. I never will."

He did seem completely sincere, and she wasn't basing this solely on the absence of his nervous twitch. She sighed. "Alright, Sheldon. I believe you. But next time you need to make such a big decision, please talk to me about it. Or someone else you trust. Don't resort to lying and deceiving the people around you, just to get what you want."

Amy was surprised that he had yet to remove his hand. In fact she hadn't noticed he still held her hand in his until he gently squeezed it and replied, "I will. This whole ordeal has given me too much stress anyway."


	6. The Ex Factor

Leonard turned to lay on his back, releasing his hold on her and Penny took the opportunity to go to the bathroom, without fear of waking him up. It wasn't even eight yet, she noticed, which meant she'd only be laying awake for half an hour since a text message had awoken them earlier that evening.

When she returned she took a moment to look at Leonard still sleeping, softly snoring. He looked so cute, but Penny knew she couldn't go back to bed now. She wasn't tired anymore, unlike him, and she would just be laying awake next to him. Instead, she grabbed his t-shirt and put it on and went to the kitchen.

She busied herself making spaghetti, her iPod softly playing. When she was nearly finished, she went back to the bedroom to grab her cell, suddenly remembering she'd received a text earlier. Just as she entered, Leonard came out of the bathroom, yawning and stretching.

Penny's eyes lingered on his bare chest, a small smile on her lips. "Uhm, supper will be ready in five. I made spaghetti." Penny turned around rather abruptly and walked back to the kitchen. What the hell was wrong with her? They had sex almost the entire night, which caused them to be too tired for work, and now she was again seriously contemplating taking of her clothes and go at it again.

She remembered the time she'd told him teasingly that if they'd live together she wouldn't be able to keep her hands off of him, but it looked like it was true so far.

"What's wrong," Leonard asked, concern evident in his voice.

Penny turned to look at him, glad he had put on some clothes, making it less of a distraction. "I was remembering the time when I had money issues." She frowned when Leonard had a pained expression on his face. "Remember, you suggested moving in with me and I told you..."

"You wouldn't be able to keep your hands off me, yeah I remember," he said, now with a grin on his face. "You wanted to jump back in bed with me?"

Penny nodded with a smile, but still wondered about the pained expression she'd seen before. Was he hurting because it reminded him she had foolishly decided to go out with Kurt after he paid her back?

"Food smells good," Leonard said.

Penny's smile turned into a grin. "This time the water was even boiling."

"So, what was the text about? The one that woke us up earlier?"

Penny tilted her head, still holding her phone in her hand. "I don't know, I haven't checked yet. Leonard, you know I only went out with him once, right?"

"Huh, what? You went out with who?"

"Kurt," she said, barely above a whisper.

"Oh, yeah, I know. I'm sorry you got hurt again."

"Don't apologize for something you weren't responsible for. That was completely my own fault, for thinking he'd changed when he paid me back out of 'guilt'." She could hear her anger come through and took a calming breath. "Leonard, please talk to me. Why did it hurt you when I talked about the time I had money issues?"

He shrugged. "Maybe there was some hurt about the fact you went out with Kurt."

Penny looked at him closely. "No, I can see now that's not what got you upset. Spill it, Hofstadter," she said.

He looked uncomfortable. "Alright, when you told me he owed you that much money, I asked the guys to come with me and see if we could get him to pay you back."

Penny frowned. "You went to Kurt for me, again? You figured he needed more than just your pants, and decided to offer him the rest of your clothes as well?" She resolutely pushed the image of him nearly naked out of her head.

"Of course not," he said, mirroring the smile she had worn when she asked the question. "He didn't take anything from me or any of the guys."

"Uh huh, because he's just so nice."

"No really, he didn't take anything from us." His smile faded. "He just wrote an IOU on my forehead. In indelible ink."

Penny barely suppressed her laughter. "Is that why you wore that stupid hat when I paid Sheldon back? Oh my god, it is! I remember now, you asked me if Kurt told me why he decided to pay me back. That son of a bitch pretended it was his own decision!"

Leonard had stepped closer and was now holding her. "It's alright, Penny."

She shook her head. "No, it's not. Twice you've gone over to him to get something from him and twice you were humiliated. I still don't understand why you didn't just walk away after the first incident, and especially not after the second. I treated you so badly."

He stood back and looked at her, "What? No, Penny. You weren't treating me bad at all. You never have, and I can't imagine you ever will."

He pulled her close again, and Penny rested her head on his shoulder. After a minute Penny pulled back. "Crap, you made me forget about supper." She turned around and turned off the stove.

A quick peek told her it wasn't ruined, if slightly overcooked, but only by a couple of minutes. She gently pushed Leonard away as he started to grab some plates. "You just go sit, I'll get everything."

"Are you sure?"

She tilted her head with a smile. "Hello, professional waitress here. I think I can handle this."

* * *

Melissa rushed inside her apartment. She was running late, because the girl on the next shift had called in sick at the last moment. It had taken an hour and a half for her replacement to arrive, and Melissa had been forced to stay late.

She turned on the shower and quickly got out of the Cheesecake Factory uniform. She hurried through her showering, knowing Raj would pick her up in probably ten minutes. She had just turned of the shower when she heard the knock on the door. "Just a sec," she yelled as she grabbed a towel. She quickly wrapped it around her and ran to the door. "Hi, come in," she said as she opened the door, walking back to her bedroom.

"I had to stay late because the girl on the next shift had called in sick and her replacement didn't arrive until an hour and half later," she said with a raised voice from the bedroom, as she toweled herself. "I'll be done in like ten minutes. We'll still make it to the movie, won't we?"

"Yeah, sure. It doesn't start for another half hour and it's only a five minute walk to the theater from here."

Melissa smiled as she heard his voice. He seemed to have tried desperately to sound like he hadn't noticed she was in just a towel, but she could tell he definitely had noticed. She'd seen his eyes widen as she'd opened the door, seen how they had wandered to her cleavage, albeit very briefly. "So, what's going on out there? I keep hearing sirens."

"I'm not sure. It sounds like they're somewhere closeby, but I couldn't see any smoke or fire coming from the direction they went."

Melissa decided on a tshirt and jeans, and with her hair brush and makeup in her hand, walked into her living room. "Now we don't have to yell at each other," she explained. "I hope you don't mind that I'm just going with a tee and jeans?"

"No, of course not. Whatever makes you comfortable." He gestured at himself. "I didn't exactly dress up myself."

She smiled. "Well, you look pretty fine, even if it's just jeans and a button-up shirt." She brushed her hair first, before tackling her makeup. Given the time constraints, she decided on just the basics and was done well within the ten minute time frame she'd given Raj initially. "How do I look," she asked him.

"Beautiful," he said, sounding and looking so sincere. "You already look beautiful without your makeup."

Melissa beamed at him. "Great, I'll put on some sneakers and we can go."

* * *

"Holy crap on a cracker!"

Leonard turned around from the sink to look at Penny. "What?" He watched her hurry over, taking particular note of how her breasts were bouncing around inside his tshirt, before resolutely focusing on her face. Whatever had gotten Penny horny, it was having the same effect on him.

"Remember the text that woke us up? It's from my agent. Apparently some big shot was in the audience Wednesday and he wants me to come for an audition!"

"That's great!" Leonard hugged her, happy that she was getting an opportunity to try out for a big production. "When's the audition?"

Penny was just jumping up and down with happiness. "This Tuesday late morning, which works out great, because I don't start until four at the Cheesecake Factory."

Leonard watched in amusement as she stopped jumping to type a reply to her agent, and then began to bounce again. "Well, I'm glad you're going to get the opportunity to perform in a bigger production. Do you know which play it is?"

She stopped bouncing again. "Leonard, I'm not talking about a play. This is an audition for a TV-show."

"You're going to be a TV star? Oh my god, that's fantastic." He winced immediately, realizing at once how his voice had sounded.

Penny stopped bouncing once again and tilted her head slightly. "Geez, could you reign in your enthusiasm a little?"

Leonard looked down embarrassedly, the sarcasm in her voice so pronounced even Sheldon would've picked up on it. "Sorry, of course I'm happy for you. It's just... you're going to be on TV and hanging out with all these good looking actors, probably thousands of male fans and..."

Penny smiled and put her finger to his lips. "Honey, you're overthinking things again." She kissed him. "Leonard, I love you. That's not going to change just because I'll be hanging out with other people."

Leonard smiled. Of course she was right; she loved him and he had no reason to distrust her.

She shrugged. "Plus, it's only an audition. I don't even know what kinda part it is. It's probably just a small guest role. Heck, I might not even get the part."

"Oh, of course you're getting the part! You're a terrific actress, which Sam and I were trying to tell you the other night. And if this mister big shot was in the audience and asked you to come to an audition, that's just further proof of just how great you are."

Penny smiled. "Yeah, maybe. We'll see. Tonight I just want to celebrate even getting a call for an audition like that."

Leonard followed Penny willingly as she pulled him toward the bedroom.

* * *

"Oh no," Raj said as they turned the corner. He saw several fire trucks in front of the movie theater, the only one playing this particular movie. "Looks like we're not going to see this movie after all."

Melissa shrugged. "That's alright. We could go to another movie theater and watch another movie."

Raj nodded hesitantly, as he started thinking. "Actually, no. The closest theater is too far to make it on foot. It would take us too long to walk back, and drive there." He went over the options. "We could see if there's place in one of the restaurants?"

Melissa almost immediately shook her head. "No, I don't want to go to a restaurant. How about home theater? I noticed you have quite a collection of movies."

Raj smiled. "Okay, we can do that. We can pick up some movie snacks on the way?"

Melissa nodded. "That sounds great. I haven't had much time to eat."

Raj smiled and gestured. "Okay, let's go." They walked in silence, Melissa wrapping her arm around him as they walked. Even though he had been really disappointed to see the small movie theater had been the target of the many fire trucks they'd heard before, the prospect of spending the evening with her on his sofa was a much more enjoyable way to watch a movie.

He walked into a seven-eleven store to pick up some snacks and drinks. Melissa chose a bag of chips and a bottle of Coke, and Raj chose a different flavor of chips and a second bottle of Coke. He paid for their purchases, waving of Melissa's half-hearted objections, telling her he'd have paid for the movie tickets and snacks if they'd gone to the theater anyway. They walked toward his apartment, only two block away now.

He'd deliberately paid for the snacks and drinks, knowing from her story on their first date, and various other things she'd told him afterwards, she was having a hard time financially. He never had known real financial hardship, and given the money he made at his job, plus the extras he got from his parents, it really made no sense to have her spend anymore money than she absolutely had to.

He didn't want to tell her yet he came from financial wealth, afraid it would come between them. He'd experienced that once with the deaf girl, and he'd learned his lesson; make sure the woman you love, loves you for you, not for your money. Not that he doubted Melissa's feelings for him, nor the sincerity. It just seemed too soon to bring it up, only a week since they'd gone on that first date.

He glanced at her, as she once again wrapped her arm around his waist. He'd definitely fallen for her, he realized. What he felt for her was much stronger than what he'd felt for Lucy. With Lucy, there had always been the worry of saying or doing something that would upset her. Of course, it hadn't helped he needed alcohol to talk to her; the alcohol brought, with the ability to talk, some changes in his personality that really weren't helping him with that relationship, or any relationship for that matter.

He wondered if the fact that his alcohol induced behavior had caused Lucy to dump him, had been the trigger to no longer need alcohol to talk to women. Perhaps he should run that by Amy sometime; she'd probably know if that was plausible.

"Raj, is something wrong?"

He turned to her once more. "No, of course not. Why?"

She shrugged and blushed a little. "You were just so quiet and seemed to be miles away."

Raj looked down momentarily, not sure how much he should tell her about what he was thinking. "I was just remembering all the problems I've had with women in the past, all because I couldn't talk to them."

She smiled and nodded. "Except when you had a drink, I remember."

He looked at her and smiled. "Exactly. Trust me, you wouldn't like me when I drink, even if it's just a little bit. I become this cocky, arrogant idiot who doesn't know when to stop, namely just before the first sentence comes out."

He felt her hand rub his back affectionately. "Well, don't worry about it. I like you just the way you are."

By that time, they'd arrived at his apartment, and he unlocked the door before gesturing her to go in before him. "You can pick the movie," he said to Melissa, pointing at his collection unnecessarily, as she'd already seen it last time she was here. He put the bottles they just bought in the fridge and poured both of them a tall glass from the still unopened bottle already there.

He grabbed two bowls and dumped the contents of both bags of chips in them. He placed the bowls on the coffee table in front of the sofa and returned to the kitchen to retrieve the two glasses.

"Hey, you have Miss Congeniality! I love that movie, but I haven't seen it in like forever!"

"Oh, I love that one, too! My girl Sandy B. is so good in that one." Raj wasn't sure if he should be embarrassed for owning a movie like that, professing his admiration for Sandra Bullock, or his reaction to Melissa just mentioning loving that movie.

Luckily, Melissa just grinned at him and handed him the DVD. "We'll watch this one, then."

Raj, having already turned on the TV and player, popped the disc in the machine and pressed play as he returned to the sofa, plopping down next to Melissa. She immediately moved closer and snuggled up to him, and Raj put his arm around her, his wrist coming to rest on her shoulder.

* * *

Leonard woke up, again finding himself alone in the bed. He squinted to look at the clock and saw it was only seven in the morning. Most likely Penny needed to relieve herself and would be back soon.

However, when he laid his head back on the pillow, he heard her humming a tune. The sound didn't come from the bathroom, but from the living room or kitchen area. Intrigued, he grabbed his glasses, put on his robe, and moved out of the bedroom. Penny was indeed in the kitchen, earbuds in, making a breakfast, french toast by the smell of it.

He remained where he was, looking at her. She had her back turned to him, and hadn't seen him yet. He loved watching her when she wasn't aware anyone could see her. She wouldn't be worried about embarrassing herself, and would just do what she felt like doing. It was just adorable to watch.

Not to mention, very sexy. Unlike him, she hadn't put on a robe, just a bra and panties. She bounced and swayed to a beat only she could hear and Leonard just stood there, grinning like a fool.

"Enjoying the view there, Leonard?"

He frowned. She hadn't turned around once, so how did she know he was standing there? "Oh, definitely," he answered loudly to be heard over the music she seem to still be listening to, before moving toward her. He reached around her to caress her belly and give her hug from behind at the same time. "How'd you know I was watching?"

She turned around in his embrace and smiled as she removed her earbuds. "Not sure, really. Just had a feeling you were watching me." She kissed him on the mouth. "Want some french toast? I think I made enough for the both of us."

"Sure. I woke up a bit peckish." He glanced at his phone. "You're kinda up early. You don't have to work until the afternoon, right?"

She smiled as she brought over the two plates. "Not until four," she confirmed. "I was just awake early. I guess it was bound to happen sometime," she added with a grin. "I got a lot of sleep yesterday afternoon, so I guess I didn't need much sleep."

Leonard grinned. "Well, we did have a celebration last night."

She nodded. "Uh huh, but that was only twice. I'm pretty sure we were asleep before ten."

Leonard grinned. "I guess I was still a bit tired from the night before. Not that I'm complaining," he hurriedly added, "but that must've been a world record."

"I know, right," Penny said with a grin but quickly became serious as she grabbed his hand. "I know I kinda initiated most of them, but you were okay with it, right?"

Leonard nodded. "Penny, trust me. If I hadn't wanted it, it wouldn't have happened. Do I wish we had saved a couple of them for last night? Maybe, but only because I pretty much fell asleep at work. But at the time, in the moment, there was just no way I was going to say no."

"Good," Penny said. "But next time, we have to make sure we get an appropriate amount of sleep, especially if we have to work the next morning."

Leonard nodded. Last night he had felt bad for missing half the workday, and he didn't want that to happen again. "Agreed. So, what do you want to do today? Before work, I mean."

Penny shrugged. "I didn't really have anything specific in mind. You?"

"No, nothing, really." Leonard tried to think of something fun to do, but came up completely blank. "There must be something fun we can do?"

Penny grinned. "We could go back to bed? That's usually a lot of fun."

Leonard couldn't help the incredulous look. "Really? Again?"

Penny blushed. "Well, yeah. Like I said last night, I seem to have a lot of trouble keeping my hands off you. Plus you look really sexy in your robe."

* * *

Melissa woke up with an arm draped across her body, and she began to smile. Despite promising herself to not spend the night too soon, they had ended up in bed last night. And she couldn't blame Raj, because she had silenced him when he offered to take her home.

Sometime during the movie, all snuggled up to him, she had decided she didn't want to sleep alone that night. She wanted to be with him, wake up next to him, like she did now. And she wanted sex. God, had she wanted it. It had been way too long since the last time she'd been laid, which had in retrospect probably been the primary motivation to ask him if she could stay.

She hadn't anticipated his nervousness, although she should have. Because of his inability to talk to women in the past, he had very limited experience. If the situation had been reversed, she would have been nervous as well. She'd managed to put him at ease, and together they had explored their bodies, learning each others likes.

They'd taken it slow and it had been nothing short of amazing. And now she woke up in his embrace, something she'd never before experienced. None of her previous relationships had involved cuddling or a loving embrace, or really any feelings of love. And she couldn't just blame her exes; she'd known what she'd gotten into when she chose them, the married, but rich and successful men.

It really had been her own doing, her conscious choice to try to hook up with some rich guy, that could make her life easier. But love had never been part of it; she'd never allowed herself to fall in love with any of them, a defense mechanism she realized. If you don't love them, they can't hurt you, at least not emotionally.

But that wasn't entirely true, either. Her last three 'relationships' had been difficult, abusive. Emotionally and physically. After the last one she had finally realized that money and financial stability, really didn't mean happiness. It certainly didn't result in a trouble free life.

That's when she'd decided to move here, start over. Pretty much nobody here would know of her past, and the chances of running into any of her former partners or their friends was pretty much non-existent. She could start over here, with her closest friend nearby so she would have someone to talk to when she felt herself slip back to her old habits.

It looked like she didn't need her friend to steer her away from a path of misery. Raj wasn't like any of the men she'd been with. He wasn't married, he was gentle, loving, just an all around good guy. Linda wouldn't have tried to set them up if she felt Raj would be wrong for her.

She felt him stir as he awoke, and smiled. "Morning," she simply said in response to a tender kiss on her shoulder. She turned to lay on her back, turning her head to look at him.

"Good morning," he replied, a big smile on his face.

She smiled in response and then lifted herself up to glance at the alarm clock, which told her it was eight fifteen.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to ask you if you had to work early."

She smiled again and turned towards him. "I don't start until four this afternoon." She gently pushed him to lay on his back, and moved to sit on his abdomen. "Plenty of time to add some more experience."

* * *

Penny hurried into the Cheesecake Factory back room, and noticed she was actually on time, if barely. She quickly clocked in and moved to the bar, dropping her purse in the corner. The bar hadn't opened yet, and she busied herself getting everything ready for her shift.

Saturday nights could go one of two ways; it would either be extremely busy, or it would be slow as molasses. Penny hoped it was a slow night, not really feeling like working her ass off tonight. Glancing around, she noticed that the restaurant was still mostly empty, just a few customers. That didn't mean it wouldn't get busy in the next few hours, but Penny felt cautiously optimistic.

She waved back at Melissa as she walked by, and then did a double take. She recognized the look. The same look had been on her face the first day after Leonard had returned. The look that pretty much told the whole world the wearer of the look had had a very enjoyable night, a night containing activities that had been duly missed for an extended period of time.

Penny winked at Melissa, who'd started to blush slightly. She continued her tasks to get everything set up and removed the 'closed' sign at exactly four. No customers were showing signs of making use of the bar, and Penny used her phone to look up more information about the famous casting director. Perhaps she could find out for which production he was currently casting.

Unfortunately, beyond the stuff she already knew about him, there was no further information to be found. It worried her slightly, as it meant she wouldn't be able to prepare for a specific role. Sure, she could do any of the several monologues she already knew by heart, but without knowing what the casting director was looking for specifically, she might do something that would be completely unsuitable to what he was looking for.

With a sigh she put away her cell, frustrating she wasn't getting any further. All it did was make her even more nervous than she already was, and she so didn't need that. Instead, she rested on the bar stool in the corner, waiting for the first customer to make his appearance.

Half an hour later, she still hadn't had a customer. She knew Bernadette was working tonight and Amy was going to a movie with Sheldon. If they hadn't, Penny would've invited them over. Instead, she dialed Sam's number. It went to voicemail, and Penny invited her over, if she got the message in time.

She typed a quick message to Leonard, telling him she loved him and missed him, smiling ever so slightly as she envisioned him reading it. She knew he was at the university, to make up some of the lost time from the day before.

By the end of the shift, work had picked up at the bar, but it still wasn't as busy as she knew it could be. Unlike the restaurant, which had quickly filled up to the very last seat. At the moment, the last customers were ready to leave. The manager had asked Penny to close the bar, and help clean up with the other waitresses, as he had to leave a little early, effectively putting her in charge and close up.

Having had such a slow evening, Penny actually found the prospect of helping clean up and doing something a welcome change, despite her earlier wishing for a slow evening. Since it hadn't been very busy at the bar, closing and cleaning the bar was a short activity.

Penny winced when she heard the sound of falling glasses, instantly feeling sorry for whichever of her colleagues would have to pay for the damages. As she looked around she noticed it was Melissa. The poor girl looked almost terrified and Penny noticed she was staring at the customer who had just entered.

Penny felt an instant dislike for the man, though she couldn't say why specifically. He was handsome, in his late forties, but something about him just seemed off. "Sorry, sir, we're closing," she said when he had walked up to the bar, plastering a friendly smile on her face.

"Listen, babe. I've had a tough evening. Be a sweetheart and get me a drink."

Penny leaned forward. "Listen, buster, we're closed. You're not getting anything. There's bar across the street that's still open."

The man simply ignored her. "Hey, Mel! You know what I like, I want it."

Penny glanced at Melissa, who almost had no color left. Penny suspected the two must have been in a relationship, and it hadn't turned out good. She could see why. "For the last time, I'm asking you to leave. Now."

The man slammed a fist on the bar. "And I'm not leaving until I get what I want! You damn bitches are all the same!"

Penny noticed Melissa flinched, but Penny was unimpressed by the man's outburst. Who the hell did he think he was? "Melissa, call nine one one," she said in an even tone.

"Oh, yes, Mel. You remember how helpful that was before, don't you? I bet you missed me, didn't you?"

Penny frowned. It seemed like Melissa had needed to call the police on this asshole before, so he apparently was an abuser. "Melissa, just make the call."

"Yes, Mel. Make the call." He laughed. "I can't believe you left me and ended up as a simple waitress. You know, you could use your body to make money. Kinda like you did when you were with me, and those before me."

Penny stepped from behind the bar when she noticed him moving in the direction of Melissa and stood in front of him.

"And what are you gonna do, doll," he scoffed.

Penny's knee connected hard with his groin, as her fist connected with his face. He went down, and Penny glared at him. "Alright, you have two choices. One, you walk out of here, with all your bones intact. Two, the paramedics are carrying you out because you won't be able to move by yourself."

In the background she heard Melissa talking on her cellphone, but she kept her eyes on the man currently holding his groin with one hand, his nose with the other. "You fucking bitch! You'll pay for that!"

"You can try, but I was taught how to defend myself against assholes like you. Trust me, I know how to inflict a great deal of damage to you."

* * *

Melissa sat down, shaking all over. She hadn't expected to ever see him again, especially since she moved away. She looked up at Penny when she placed a glass in front of her.

"You look like you could use a real drink," she said with a sympathetic smile.

Melissa smiled in thanks, and took a couple of sips. "I'm sorry I froze on you. Seeing Eric again just scared me and I couldn't do anything."

Penny just rubbed her back. "It's okay. From what I overheard you telling the police, I have a pretty good idea why."

"Yeah, he abused me. He always managed to talk his way out of it, except the last time. That's when I finally got the restraining order." She took another two sips. "Thanks for, you know." She gestured toward the restaurant area on the other side of the door.

"No problem, sweetie. He wasn't the first guy to find out I can take care of myself, and that I don't take crap from anyone."

Penny smiled and winked, in an obvious attempt to lift Melissa's spirits. Melissa smiled back briefly. "I wonder how quickly they'll let him go this time. I think the longest time he's spent in custody was three hours."

"He violated a restraining order, so they might actually keep him a little longer this time."

Melissa snorted. "He didn't know I worked here. I seriously doubt they're gonna hold that against him."

Penny shrugged. "He may not have known when he came in, but as soon as he saw you he should've left. On top of that, he should've left when I told him we were closed and he had to leave. I've told the police that, so I'm sure they'll keep him a bit longer than before."

Melissa shrugged, not really believing that would happen. Based on past experience, there was a good chance he'd be out in a few hours. Thank god he didn't know where she lived, because she was certain he didn't care what the restraining order said; he'd seek her out, punish her for getting him arrested.

"Does Raj know," Penny asked. "About the guy and the restraining order, I mean."

Melissa shook her head. "No, and I'm not going to tell him. I can't. I don't want him to know about the mistakes I've made."

Penny's hand patted hers. "Sweetie, we all make mistakes. Raj won't feel any different about you. I just think he should know, in case the asshole finds you. That creep might even go after Raj if he finds out the two of you are dating."

Melissa hadn't thought about that. The thought of Eric finding her scared the crap out of her, but the idea of Eric going after Raj made her insides turn. Penny was right; Raj needed to know.

"Thanks ladies," Penny said as their two colleagues returned from the main restaurant area.

"No problem," one of them replied. "Are you okay, Mel?"

Melissa turned to the two of them and nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I guess I am. Sorry for burdening you guys with extra clean-up duties."

"Oh, don't you worry about that." The girl turned to Penny. "Do you want us to stay, so we can all leave together?"

Penny glanced at Melissa. "Yeah, I guess we should leave together. Lemme check if everything's locked."

Melissa downed the last of her drink, so Penny could take the glass with her as she went to check the doors and windows. Melissa stood up to place the two chairs she and Penny had used on the table, but she was still trembling. One of the girls grabbed the chair instead, placed it on the table and did the same with the other one.

"Melissa, sweetie, I really think you shouldn't drive in this state. I'll drop you off on my way home."

Melissa glanced at Penny and nodded, having realized she would be a danger behind the wheel at the moment. "Okay."

* * *

Leonard paced around the room, waiting anxiously for Penny to come home. She'd send a text about having to stay a bit later, to talk to the police. Her reply to his request for more information only made him more anxious. He knew Penny was independent, and perfectly able to take care of herself, but Leonard was still worried for her.

She'd texted him again almost half an hour ago, informing him she was driving Melissa home first, and would then come home. He'd expected her home ten minutes ago, and so his nerves had increased more and more every minute.

He turned toward the front door when he heard a key being inserted. He held her in his arms before she had a chance to actually enter the apartment.

"Oh, honey, I'm okay."

Leonard nodded and loosened his hold on her, so she could come inside and close the door. "I just got worried because I expected you home ten minutes ago." He could hear the worry and anxiety hadn't left him yet.

Penny gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry. Melissa didn't want to be alone. We picked up some clothes at her place, before I dropped her off at Raj."

Leonard followed her to the sofa, frowning slightly. "So, what happened, exactly?"

She kissed him as they sat down. "Okay, so we were closing up, the last customer left and some older man comes in, demanding a drink. I told him we were closed and to take a hike but he didn't want to listen. Instead he was taunting Melissa and when he made to go over to her, I stepped out from behind the bar, kneed him and punched him on the nose."

Leonard chuckled, impressed by his girlfriend's actions. "I guess he targeted Melissa because you weren't doing what he asked?"

"No, turns out he's her ex. The bastard abused her, emotionally and physically. She got a restraining order on him, so he should've left when he saw her." She put her head on his shoulder. "I'm so glad you and the guys aren't like that."

Leonard put his arm around her. "Well, if I had been, I'm pretty sure I'd be the one ending up hurt."

She snorted. "You got that right, mister."


	7. The Occupation Interference

Penny woke up, once again held tightly by Leonard, eliciting a smile instantly. Today was Sunday and besides dinner at Howard and Bernadette, they had nothing on their agenda for today. She rolled her eyes when she realized how she wanted to spend at the very least some of the day, surprised that once again she woke up horny.

She turned her body slowly, not wanting to wake him up just yet if he was still asleep, but feeling the need to be able to watch him more easily. Last night he'd been so freaked out and scared for her, and it had made her feel so loved and cared for, that she'd fallen in love with him all over.

She had never understood people saying they fell in love all over, or they'd love their partner more and more every day, but ever since she and Leonard had dated, she had. She knew how small, simple things would result in a stronger feeling of being connected, being loved.

She placed her hand on top of one of his and whispered, "I love you, Leonard Hofstadter." He was still asleep, she could tell, but his subconscious might have registered her declaration of love, because a smile formed in response.

Her mind wandered back to last night, coming home to a worried Leonard. She hadn't thought about letting him know that she'd be ten minutes later, had not realized how worried he'd already been about her safety and well being after Melissa's ex had come to the Cheesecake Factory and had started a fuss.

If the situation had been reversed, she'd been a mess and she should've thought about that when they picked up some of Melissa's stuff. Instead, she'd figured it was only ten minutes and he'd be okay. She needed to start taking his feelings into account more, thinking more about how he'd feel in certain situations.

Penny was glad Leonard wasn't like Melissa's ex. Of course they'd have arguments every now and then, but never, ever would he hurt her. He'd joked about not hurting her because he knew she'd kick his ass before he'd even get close to her, but hurting her was just not something that was in his character. And he could hurt her emotionally if he was inclined to do so; she'd have no real defense against that.

At least Melissa was now dating Raj, another guy that would never hurt anyone deliberately. She just hoped Raj wouldn't get scared to be with a woman with that kind of baggage. It had only been a few months since he could finally talk to women, and there was a chance this might make him nervous and scared of them all over again.

Then again, he really seemed to love her, at least by his reaction last night when Penny dropped Melissa of at his place. He'd been confused at her unexpected visit, even more so when he noticed the bag with clothing, but hugged her tightly and told her that of course she could stay for a few days.

Penny hoped Melissa had told him by now. She had assured Penny she would, but Penny knew it scared her, that she was afraid Raj would dump her. That might happen, but Penny was pretty sure Raj wouldn't be like that; he'd stay with her and do whatever he could to protect her.

* * *

Samantha waited patiently for Sheldon to complete his 'knocking thing' as Penny had put it, before opening the door. "Hello, Sheldon."

"Dr. Green," he replied with a small, polite nod.

"I told you, call me Sam."

"Very well. Sam," he said, once again accompanied by a nod. "The other day our introductory conversation didn't quite go as well as it should have."

Samantha raised an eyebrow. "And you expect a conversation at eight thirty on a Sunday morning might improve that?"

"Well, yes. Unlike Penny, you haven't imposed the rule of not knocking before eleven. Furthermore, I noticed you were up an hour ago, therefore I assume you have sufficiently woken up for us to have this conversation."

Samantha nodded and smiled. She had been up, talking to her friends back home. "Alright, love. You want to come in?"

He entered the apartment and glanced around. "I'm not quite sure where to sit."

She smiled, having heard he had his own spot in his apartment, including the reasons why that was his spot. "Well, if you're only here to talk, might I suggest we sit at the table near the window?"

"Oh, no, that wouldn't do. I will try each spot until I find one that I like." He moved to a comfortable chair and sat down, moving his bum around. Melissa hoped he didn't chose that one, as it was her favorite spot, but she would be comfortable in any of the other spots anyway.

"So," he said as he stood back up to move to the sofa. "I was born in Texas in a city filled with creationists. I have a twin sister, though she and I are nothing alike. Oh, this feels like a good spot."

Samantha hid a smile at his joyous proclamation, but was not at all surprised to see him moving on to the next spot. "I take it your sister doesn't share your intellect?"

"No, not at all. Actually, I'm the exception in our family, intelligence wise."

Samantha followed him with her eyes as he moved from spot to spot, telling her about his upbringing and life outside academics and science. She knew he'd been rehearsing this story, most likely already having thought up copious amounts of responses to whatever question she'd might interject.

Instead, she listened to him, not interjecting as much so as not to make him uncomfortable, at least not more uncomfortable than he probably already was. Unsurprisingly he eventually decided on his second spot, the one he had proclaimed as a good spot.

"So, those are the most important things about Sheldon Lee Cooper," he ended the conversation, almost immediately after sitting down.

She sat down in the chair next to the sofa. "Thank you, darling, for talking about you. You know, back home, I have a friend Karen. She's much like you when it comes to social aspects. I'm proud to say I've managed to make her more comfortable in different social settings and she has told me she appreciated it. When I met you the first time I just felt like you could benefit from my experience."

He looked away, seemingly thinking it over. "I must admit that I'm frequently baffled by social protocols and, yes, even sometimes feel like I'm 'out of the loop' as they say. I wonder why none of my friends have tried that."

Samantha smiled. "It's not easy to do. With Karen it took me quite some time, as I had to figure out how to approach certain situations. Since I'm here for two months, I really had to speed things up with you, which is why I interrupted your initial attempt at introductions in such a rude manner."

"I see," he said, once again staring off into space. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I would be more apt at social interactions. I accept you assistance in the matter."

* * *

"That's the bitch that broke my nose!"

Penny turned around to see the manager, Dan, currently dealing with Melissa's ex, who was in a very foul mood. Luckily, the manager, already having apologized to Penny for not staying the entire shift, wasn't letting the asshole go any further.

"Sir, you have threatened two of our employees. You are no longer welcome in this establishment. I advise you to leave now, or we will use force."

Penny grinned. If that asshole had been surprised by her effectiveness, he certainly would be surprised by Dan. While he didn't look like it, especially in his uniform, he was well versed in several martial art forms.

"But she attacked me!"

Dan shook his head. "Not from what I was told by the police and several witnesses. However, if you feel otherwise, you can take that up with the police."

Penny stared down Melissa's ex, showing she wasn't scared of him and was ready to repeat last night's performance should he actually get past Dan, however unlikely that was.

"This ain't over, bitch," he pointed at her. "Just ask Mel what happens if you cross me." It looked like he wanted to say more, but Dan was already forcing him out of the Cheesecake Factory.

Penny turned toward the backroom, knowing that Melissa had been there. Indeed, the blonde was standing in the doorway, looking extremely pale. Penny walked towards her and sat her down in the backroom.

"Penny, I'm really scared now. He threatened to beat you up!"

Penny nodded. "He certainly did, in front of several customers, our manager, and the other employees. I'll file a police report at the end of my shift."

"No, you'll do that right now," Dan spoke, having just entered. He sounded worried. "I know you feel you can take care of yourself Penny, but this is serious. I know he's waiting outside, probably until you're done. Formally, I can't do anything, as he's no longer on our premises."

Penny nodded and retrieved her cell. She'd never heard Dan this worried before, and if he felt she was in real danger, who was she to argue? Dan stayed in the backroom, talking to Melissa, who was definitely more shook-up than anyone else, as Penny told the police what had happened and what the current situation was.

She handed her phone to Dan, at the request of the police officer on the other end, and the two spoke briefly, before the phone was returned. The police officer was going to send someone over, after they arrested Melissa's ex.

Penny noticed Dan was far from happy after talking to the police officer. "What's wrong?"

"Apparently someone posted bail while he was still in the hospital. Chances are, that someone will post bail again with this arrest, meaning he'll be out on the streets again in a matter of hours. The police can't really do anything about it until he does something."

Penny sat down next to Melissa, who was starting to tear up. "I'll make sure neither one of us will leave alone."

Dan shook his head. "Neither one of you will leave without me escorting you to your car." He handed them two business cards. "I want you two to enroll in this women's self-defense class. The instructor is a martial arts expert."

Melissa looked at the card. "Uh, I don't know. Money is kinda tight."

Dan waved his hand. "Don't worry about that. She and I are close and I'm sure I can get the two of you a deal for at least the basic self-defenses classes."

* * *

"Dr. Koothrappali?" Linda was a little worried. While she'd seen him distracted before, this time it looked totally different. "Is something wrong?"

He blinked several times. "Oh, uh, no. Nothing wrong. Nothing at all."

Yeah, right. "Did something happen between you and Melissa?"

He smiled, the first time today she saw a smile on his face. "No, not like that. It's just that, well, last Saturday, after her shift, Penny dropped Melissa of at my place, with a bag of clothing for a few days."

Linda smiled and then frowned, not entirely sure what to make of it. She was pretty sure the two of them had slept together, but Dr. Koothrappali didn't sound like he thought it was a very positive thing.

"Apparently," he continued, oblivious to her concern, "Melissa's ex stopped by at the Cheesecake Factory."

Linda's features darkened. "Please tell me it wasn't Eric."

He nodded. "It was, and after all Melissa told me about their relationship, I'm just as big of a fan of him as you are."

"Did he do something to her?"

He shook his head, smiling again. "No, Penny kneed him in his man parts and punched him in the face, probably broken his nose."

Linda was very impressed by the way Penny had handled things, and started to laugh. "I would've loved seeing that! You have no idea how many times I've wished for someone to beat him up for a change."

He nodded, still smiling. "Yeah, leave it to Penny to take care of business." He became serious again. "I just hope they'll keep him locked up a lot longer than they did in the past."

Linda sighed. "Yeah, he always got out in matter of hours, no matter what he did."

* * *

Dan rushed back in the restaurant, hearing commotion inside. He cursed himself for carrying boxes and garbage to the dumpster several times at the end of the shift. He hadn't seen the guy and figured it was safe to do so, so that the girls wouldn't have to follow him back and forth before they could leave after the shift ended.

He'd seen Melissa in the backroom, already on the phone talking to what he assumed to be the police. When he opened the door of the restaurant, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Penny knocking the guy unconscious with a very well executed right hook.

He stood there for a second or so, before hurrying over to her. He could see a small cut on her forehead but she waved him off when he wanted to take care of her injury.

"Just get the police. And I want to talk to them. If they let him go again, they better make sure there's police protection involved for Melissa and me."

She sounded angry, and he couldn't blame her. This was just ridiculous and really careless of the police department. The guy had been here twice already, threatening employees both times. "Melissa's already on the phone." He looked at the guy who started to come around again. His still broken nose was now accompanied by a long scratch below his right eye, and the left eye showed indications of becoming a nice black one. He couldn't help but chuckle. "This guy must be really stupid for trying to take you on again."

Penny smiled a little. "There's still room for more."

The cops arrived quickly and after taking one look at the scene, arrested the man on the floor. One officer looked at Dan and said, "Sir, could you tell us what led up to your use of force?"

Dan smiled. "While I'd been happy to clean his clock, my head waitress here gets all the credits. She was also the one to give him the broken nose last Saturday night when he came in here and threatened her and another waitress." He indicated with his tone of voice just how unhappy he was that this was the second time. "Earlier today he also came in here threatening her specifically. Your colleagues arrested him shortly afterwards."

"Yes, I'd like to know how he gets out in mere hours after having issued several severe threats," Penny said, sounding even angrier than before. "What if I hadn't been able to stand up for myself, huh? You think he'd stopped after his first hit? Ask his ex girlfriend, she'll tell you he doesn't stop until he's good and ready."

"Ma'am, please calm down."

"Calm down? I was threatened last Saturday, to the point that I had to use physical force to defend myself, and then again today. I'm the victim here and you don't seem to give a shit about my safety and well being."

Dan put his hand on her shoulder, in an attempt to calm her down. He knew she had a right to be angry, but this wasn't going to help her.

"Ma'am, we understand this is very confusing and stressful, but we need you to be calm and give us your statement."

* * *

Penny glanced in her rear view mirror to check her forehead. The cut really wasn't that big, but noticeable. She sighed, turned off the engine, and prepared herself for the audition. She felt more nervous than she had been for any of the dozens of auditions she'd been on, knowing just how important this one could be for her career.

Feeling she'd done all she could she got out of the car and moved toward the building. Despite leaving early, she was still only ten minutes early, which only meant there would be ten minutes of nerves to deal with.

She told the receptionist who she was and who she was to see and after a minute was asked to wait in a room just behind the receptionist. Much to her surprise she saw only one other actress, and three actors, giving her hope she'd only have one actress to compete with today. It did make her wonder if the part was already in the final stages of being cast, and this audition was hurriedly added to allow her a chance.

She grabbed the audition script and began reading it, attempting to absorb as much as she could so she didn't have to constantly look at the script. She instantly realized why there were male actors present; the scene involved three males and one female.

Penny started to grin as she read through the scene; she'd be reading for a female reporter who'd be interviewing three male scientists, and one would fall instantly in love with the reporter and try to win her over, but fail miserably. It didn't seem to be a leading role, but still a pretty major guest role.

"Ugh, these lines are so hard," she heard one of the men say in a half whisper to his colleagues. "I get like ten percent of the sentence, the rest I have literally no clue what I'm saying."

One of the other two replied. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't even understand what the difference is between a theoretical physicist and an experimental physicist."

"A theoretical physicist, " Penny replied, almost without thinking, "tries to create new hypotheses about how things could work, whereas an experimental physicist designs protocols to determine if those hypotheses are valid." When she looked up from her script she noticed the four other occupants were simply staring at her.

"Care to give an example?"

"Well, I'm not a scientist, so I don't think I can give you one." Penny shrugged. "I'm just dating an experimental physicist. I'm also friends with a theoretical physicist, so I know the difference." She turned her attention back to the script, trying to get as much of it as she could.

After reading it a few times, she felt she knew the scene well enough. It didn't involve more than a few lines, and none of them were all that difficult, especially not compared to the lines the guys had. She briefly wondered how accurate their lines really were; she'd be really embarrassed if she'd gotten the part and the gang would all laugh at the scientific mistakes, instead of at the actual jokes.

She put down the script, feeling that she shouldn't need to read it too often and deliver her lines over rehearsed. If she'd been a real reporter having to interview a couple of scientists for the first time, she'd be confused and uncertain as to how to respond to certain things the guys would say, and over rehearsing would make her delivery sound too easy, too polished.

One of the guys had also put his script down letting out a big sigh. She smiled at him with sympathy, and he grinned and shrugged back. "So, what does your boyfriend do?"

"Well, recently he went to the North Sea to test Dr. Hawking's theory that the similarities between the equations on general relativity and hydrodynamics would allow them to find the equivalent of blackhole radiation in a large body of water." Penny was glad she'd taken the time all those months ago to figure out exactly what Leonard would be doing. She'd done that when she found Sheldon was jealous and said that Leonard might prove how everything came to existence and how it would end.

She still hadn't made the link between finding the blackhole radiation and the answers to those questions, but everything indicated that Sheldon had good reason to be jealous. She almost laughed now, as she realized she'd actually remembered most of what she read.

"Didn't they try to create a blackhole in Switzerland?"

Penny shook her head. "No, at the Large Hadron Collider they tried to detect a Boson-Hicks particle. Some people were scared the experiment would create a blackhole, but that was just a myth, as far as I know."

She took a sip from the water bottle and frowned slightly as she realized she actually remembered quite a bit of what she'd been reading during Leonard's absence. She mentally shrugged it off. "Besides, my boyfriend and the others weren't actually looking for a blackhole, but rather the radiation it is believed to give of." She turned to the door to her left, as it was opened and the casting people entered.

* * *

"Jen, stop here, please," Dan said as they approached the Cheesecake Factory.

His fiancé pulled over. "Why, what's wrong?"

Dan pointed. "See that guy over there?" He glanced at her and saw her beginning to smile. "Oh my god, is that the guy you told me about?"

He grinned back. "Told you Penny did a number on him."

"By the looks of it I won't be needing to teach her much self defense." She squinted slightly. "Nice," she said with a nod. "I'm guessing he's waiting for her to arrive?"

"I think so. Or maybe wait for Melissa, his ex. She's the one that could benefit the most of your expertise."

Jennifer nodded. "Right. So, what do we do now? I'm guessing calling the cops won't do any good. He's not really doing anything wrong at the moment."

Dan shook his head. "No, and I'm sure he won't if he sees me. The thing is, if he sees you dropping me of..."

"Honey, don't worry about me. I know how to deal with creeps like that."

He looked at her as she put the car in gear and drove toward the employee parking lot. "Hey, that's Melissa's car," he said as he spotted the vehicle, already parked, directly across from where Jen had pulled in. "What are you doing," he asked when she turned of the ignition and undid her seatbelt.

"I'm going in with you," she said matter of factly as she opened the car door. "And I'll leave together with this Melissa girl if she happens to have switched shifts and leaves in half an hour."

As she locked the car, Dan turned at the sound of a car horn. "There's Penny." He watched her park next to Jen's car and get out.

"Hi, Dan," she said, in the happiest mood he'd ever seen her.

"Hi, Penny. This is my fiancé, Jennifer. Jen, this is Penny."

The two women shook hands and Jen said, with a slight jerk of her head, "I just saw you handiwork across the street. Nice."

Dan watched in amusement as Penny first glanced in the direction Jen had indicated and then rolled her eyes. "I swear I'm gonna break his arm or leg if he tries anything tonight. If Dan doesn't beat me to it."

Jen smiled. "Oh, I know he's not going to leave you alone like he did the other night."

Dan ignored the mock glare, knowing she didn't say it to hurt him; she knew he'd been beating himself up over that already.

"But I really hope he lets you take care of it and only steps in if he sees you're getting in trouble. The best way to deal with these bastards is if they get beaten up by a woman a couple of times."

They'd arrived in the backroom, where they saw Melissa cleaning up.

"Hi sweetie," Penny greeted the other waitress. "Did you switch with someone?"

Melissa nodded. "Yeah, Catherine asked if we could switch. She arrived a minute ago."

Dan noticed the nervousness, and knew exactly why. Jen beat him to it, though.

"Don't worry, Melissa. I'll be escorting you. Trust me, nothing will happen to you."

Dan smiled. "Jen is the women's self defense instructor I told you about. She's really good, and I'm not saying that because she's my fiancé."

"That's quite a change," Jen said with a smile. "A few minutes ago you didn't particularly like the idea of that creep seeing me drop you of."

Dan nodded. "I still don't. I guess I'll always be worried for your safety, even though I know you can take care of yourself."

"I know, honey. And really, it's good to know you feel that way. But you know me. I'll be careful."

* * *

Melissa nervously stepped out of the employee entrance and walked toward her car at a quick pace, trusting that the manager's fiancé was following her. As she neared her car, she started to feel slightly relieved, believing that Eric had decided not to go after her.

She glanced behind her to see Jennifer catching up to her. She smiled and turned back, retrieving her car keys from her purse.

"Hello, Mel."

Melissa froze at the sound of his voice. He stood up slowly from his crouch between her car and the one parked next to her.

"Is something the matter," Jennifer said from behind her, but Melissa was still frozen to the spot, too terrified to move an inch.

"Ah, the friend of that obnoxious manager."

"Fiancé, actually," Jennifer replied, sounding very relaxed, now standing right beside Melissa. "And I don't find him obnoxious at all."

"Maybe you should be worried," Eric said. "He's always hanging around these two blonde bitches."

Melissa finally dared to glance at Jennifer, hoping the woman wouldn't start to question her fiancé's fidelity. She was relieved when Jennifer, narrowing her eyes slightly, replied, "I think you're the one who needs to worry about him. He'd kick your ass, though I must say that the other waitress has done a remarkably fine job all by herself."

Eric shrugged and grinned in a way that Melissa remembered all too clearly. "Well, they're not here now, are they? He's inside there with that blonde bitch who got lucky."

Melissa couldn't suppress the shiver when he leered at Jennifer, knowing all too well what he intended to do next.

"I'll start with you, I think. Mel knows not to run away, because she knows what'll happen then, don't you Mel?"

Melissa only jumped back when Jennifer grabbed Eric's hand and twisted it around. She grabbed her cell and called nine one one.

"You fucking bitch!" Eric roared and charged Jennifer.

Apparently Jennifer had anticipated that and grabbed his arm, turning herself around to force him to go past her. She didn't release the arm, but turned it up sharply against his back, forcing him down on his knees.

"Filthy whore! Let go of me and I'll show you what happens to women showing disrespect to men!"

Melissa turned around at the sudden hand on her shoulder, and realized Penny and her manager had both arrived at the scene. Her manager seemed livid and ready to attack Eric, but Jennifer stopped him. "No, Dan. You don't want to risk being charged with assault."

* * *

Penny walked back inside with Dan, shaking her head. "He's a real idiot. Why the hell would he attack the two female cops?"

Dan shook his head as well. "That man has some serious issues with women, I guess." He shrugged. "This might actually be good. As wrong as it is, with him attacking an officer, they might actually turn this into a bigger issue."

Penny snorted. "That's the sickest thing I've ever heard." She then shrugged. "As long as it gets him out of our lives, I guess I shouldn't complain." She looked up at him. "You know, if the offer still stands, I wanna go to Jennifer's class. I think Melissa will want to as well."

Dan smiled at her. "The offer still stands. What made you decide?"

Penny shrugged. "My only defense seems to be a good offense. Jennifer dealt with the guy without having to bruise anything but his ego."

Dan nodded. "Yeah, that's what she teaches everyone to do." He opened the door. "So, corporate found out about all this stuff. They're worried about the safety and are going to press charges against Melissa's ex."

Penny raised an eyebrow. "You think that'll do any good?"

"Maybe not," Dan replied, obviously unhappy to even having to admit it. "But it'll be another thing against him. At some point the judge might get that allowing him to get out of jail so easily and quickly is not the way to go."

Penny smiled, despite feeling deep down this was not likely to happen. "We'll see," she said, trying not to sound too negative.

"Anyway, corporate feels it's safer for you and Melissa to take a week off."

Penny shook her head. "We can't do that. I know for a fact Melissa needs the money, and so do I, frankly, if not as badly as Melissa."

Dan nodded. "I know, that's what I told corporate. Apparently they're so scared something will happen here and you two would sue the company, they're willing to pay the shifts you'd normally have to work." He rolled his eyes at the typical corporate way of 'caring.'

Penny had to consciously close her mouth, not having expected that at all. "Wow. But what about the staff here? I mean, with two waitresses not here, they'd have to do double shifts. Besides, if that scumbag comes in and Melissa and I are not here, who's not to say he'd take out his frustration on one of them?"

"I'm not saying it's all that logical, and really I think corporate shouldn't try to force you to stay home for a week. So, you two just take the paid time off and let us worry about who's going to fill in. We've also switched around some schedules so that at least one male is present during each shift." He winked. "After all, not every girl here can handle assholes like that."

* * *

Melissa entered Raj's lab and found it empty. She sat down in the chair and let the tears she'd been keeping inside for over an hour flow freely, putting her head in her hands. She really didn't understand why she let Eric have this power over her, why she had to have others fight her battle.

"... with the results. Mel?"

Melissa looked up at the sound of Linda's voice, seeing her walk in with Raj. She immediately stood up and rushed into his waiting arms.

"Did Eric try something," Linda asked with concern.

She just nodded, holding on tight to Raj.

"He didn't hurt you, did he," Raj asked, sounding even more concerned than Linda had.

"No, but only because the manager's fiancé was with me. She's a self defense trainer." She tightened her hold on him. "I, on the other hand, was completely useless. Again. I just stood there, rooted to the spot." She suddenly stood back, but maintained the physical connection with Raj. "I swear, if Penny or Jen hadn't been around, I would've just allowed Eric to... to... You know?"

"I'm taking you back to my place," Raj said, his voice indicating he wouldn't accept no for an answer. "We'll pick up some of your stuff from your place, but you're not going to be alone."

Actually, Melissa was glad Raj insisted on her staying with him; she felt safe being with him and it was certainly nice to fall asleep next to him and wake up the next day, still embracing each other. "Okay. When are you finished?"

He shrugged. "We can go right now. It's almost time anyway, and the few minutes early won't matter. There have been plenty of days when I worked longer."

A few minutes later, Melissa sat silently in Raj's car as he drove to her apartment to pick up some more of her stuff, before continuing to his apartment. He ensured her her car would be fine in the university's parking lot and they would figure something out to get her car later.

Melissa didn't really care, as long as she didn't have to drive by herself. The drive over had been nerve wracking, but the university had been the closest from the Cheesecake Factory, so she had driven there, to Raj.

Raj accompanied her to her apartment, and she quickly stuffed a bunch of her clothing in a large duffel and in less than five minutes they were back in the car, driving toward Raj's apartment. She wasn't quite sure why she'd rushed getting her things, she just felt like she didn't want to be there, at all.

"You know, Melissa," Raj started as they walked from his car to the building. "I may not be a strong, muscular guy, but I will never let this dude hurt you. I promise."

Melissa smiled at him, feeling this was the first time since her shift had ended she did so. "I know, Raj. And for the record, I do feel safe around you, even if you're not all macho. I love you just the way you are." Her smile widened when she saw his reaction: an almost shy smile on his lips and a definite spring in his step, while carrying her duffel.

She'd meant what she told him, about feeling safe around him. She wouldn't have agreed to stay with him if that wasn't the case. She stepped inside his apartment after he opened the door and stepped aside to allow her enter first.

She walked toward his bedroom, unbuttoning her uniform as she went. "Raj, could you bring the duffel in, please," she asked as she removed the uniform. "I'm gonna take a shower and the only clean underwear I have with me, is in there."

She turned to him as he stepped inside with duffel, remaining in the doorway looking everywhere but at her. "What's wrong?"

He shrugged and smiled nervously, before stepping inside and placing the duffel on his bed. "I guess nothing."

She gently grabbed him when he tried to back out of the room again. "Raj, talk to me."

He looked around nervously again. "It's just that... I mean, you're..." He gestured at her, apparently indicating her current state of undress. "You know. And I don't want you to think that I'd take advantage of the situation, because I'm not. I won't. And then there's the whole thing with your ex and that must be..."

Melissa cut him off by kissing him passionately, pressing herself tightly against him. "Now that I have your attention," she said with a smile, after they broke apart, "I wouldn't think you're taking advantage of the situation. And that stuff with Eric is only showing me just how wonderful you are."

He looked in her eyes. "Are you sure?"

She smiled at him. "Of course I am." She gently steered his mouth back to hers to kiss him again. "I love you."

She could tell it surprised him, but he smiled back. "I love you, too." He looked down at her. "I should let you take your shower and start supper."

She smiled. "Or, you could hop in the shower with me and we'll eat later."


	8. The Representation Conundrum

Leonard was surprised to see Penny in their apartment. He knew she was supposed to be working the evening shift.

"Hi honey," she greeted him, planting a quick kiss on his lips.

He put his messenger bag near the computer desk. "Not that I'm complaining, but weren't you supposed to be at work right now?"

"Yeah, but corporate's afraid Melissa and I will be seriously hurt next time Eric comes by and are _paying_ us to stay home for a week."

Leonard nodded. "They're worried the two of you would sue," he translated, and then frowned. "Aren't they worried about the others?"

Penny nodded. "That's what I thought. Luckily, Dan and the other managers _are_ worried, and decided to make sure each shift has at least on male employee present." She shrugged. "We'll see how that goes."

Leonard nodded, sharing her doubts about the effectiveness of having male employees present at all times. Then he began to smile. "So, you'll be free for an entire week?"

Penny smiled back at him. "Yup. I think it's pretty funny I'm getting paid to spend more time with you."

He hugged her. "That's great. Sam and I weren't planning on working late this week, so we'll be able to spend the evenings together." He guided her toward the sofa so they could sit down and kept her hand in his, to maintain the physical contact. "So, how did the audition go?"

Penny beamed at him. "I think it went very well. It's going to be a sitcom about, and you're going to like this, three scientists trying to get through everyday life. I'm up for the guest role of a female reporter, and one of the guys develops a crush on me."

"Wow," Leonard said, a chuckle accompanying his reply. "That's kinda close to home."

"I know, right? The guys are having a hard time getting their lines out, though. Of course, it doesn't help they haven't got a clue what they're talking about. The producers and writers use an actual scientist to advise them on the science, because they want to keep the show as honest and correct as they can get. I was kinda glad to hear that, because I was afraid that if I'd get the part, you guys would be laughing at the sciency errors, instead of the jokes."

"We wouldn't do that," Leonard said. At her raised eyebrow and disbelieving look he relented, "Well, maybe we would. But we wouldn't be laughing at you."

She smiled then. "I know, but I'd be feeling badly about it anyway."

He nodded. "I know you would. So, do you have a lot of competition?"

She shook her head. "No, there was only one other actress there, and though she was good, I feel very optimistic about my chances." She frowned, seemingly remembering something. "You know, I never realized how much you and the rest of the gang have rubbed off on me. Not only could I explain to one of the guys what the difference is between a theoretical and experimental physicist, but I was even able to tell him what you did at the North Sea."

* * *

Raj woke up, Melissa still tightly pressed against him. He'd been having a nightmare, one in which her ex had forced her to move back in with him. When he had found her, she'd been in the hospital, bruises all over her face. Her right lower arm had been in a cast, as had her left leg. She'd then proceeded to tell him he should leave, that she didn't love him and that her ex would change, would stop hitting her.

He'd woken up right when said ex had come in and hit her again for even talking to another man, while Raj had been forced out of the room by the police. He was fairly certain Melissa wouldn't actually willingly stay with her ex, but what had scared him the most was the fact the police hadn't tried to protect her, had allowed her ex to attack her again.

Much like the current situation, he was all too aware. Melissa had been lucky Penny wasn't one to let anyone get away with abuse and able to actually do something about the potential threat. So now Penny was a target as well, and from what Melissa had told him earlier, so was the fiancé of her manager. He carefully turned to to glance at his clock and found it was not even two in the morning.

He turned back and put his arm around Melissa, attempting to calm down and draw comfort from the fact she was with him now. He remembered asking her, begging her to not go in to work for a while, but she told him she needed the money and couldn't just take a couple of days of. He had been very pleased when minutes later she'd found she had received a text, telling her she should stay home for a week and that she would still be payed for the shifts she would miss.

Raj knew why the Cheesecake Factory made this offer, almost forcing it; if something would happen to her they didn't want it to happen during her work shift, as that would leave them open to lawsuits. He figured Penny had received the same offer, though he wasn't so sure she would accept it, just on the principle of not being bullied. But chances were the Cheesecake Factory had more or less forced her to take the time of.

He lay awake for quite some time, at least until four thirty, the last time he checked the clock before waking up again. The first thing he saw was Melissa propped up slightly, her head resting on her hand, watching him. "Hi," he said with a croaky voice.

She smiled at him. "Morning."

"How long have you been awake?"

She glanced past him, at his alarm clock, before looking back at him. "About half an hour." Her hand had started to trace patterns on his chest. "How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good," he lied, not wanting to worry her about his fears.

She grinned. "Good. I texted Penny earlier, and we're going to go over to Jennifer's place and talk about the self defense training."

Raj frowned, unable to place the name.

"That's my manager's fiancé. She also gives these women self-defense classes." She glanced down shyly, but then looked back up. "I'm sick of being scared and helpless. I don't want Penny or anyone else to save my ass. But mostly, I want Eric to realize that he can forget about ever hurting me again."

* * *

Penny parked her car near the dojo Jennifer apparently owned. She turned of the ignition and glanced at Melissa. "Here we are. Are you ready?"

The other blonde smiled nervously. "No." She took a deep breath. "But I just have to do this."

Penny smiled and nodded approvingly. Before she had a chance to open the car door, Melissa grabbed her arm.

"Thanks for coming with me. I know you don't really need this class. You've shown twice you already know how to defend yourself."

Penny smiled again. "Oh, sweetie, of course I'm coming with you. And I can tell you, Jennifer will be able to teach me a lot. Like I told Dan the other day, my self-defense is based on a swift and painful offense. Yesterday, she didn't hurt Eric at all, but still got him to the ground. I want to learn that."

Together they walked into the dojo, where Jennifer was already waiting for them near the frontdesk. "Ladies, welcome."

Penny pointed at the gym bags both of them had brought along. "We weren't sure if we were just going to talk, or if you wanted to start with some basics already."

She smiled. "Well, we will be talking, but my first class starts in an hour and you're welcome to join us." She pointed to just behind her. "Changing rooms are over there, but for now we'll go to my office and have a little chat."

Penny nodded and followed Jennifer, noticing a nervous look on Melissa's face. "What's wrong, sweetie," she whispered.

Melissa just shrugged in response, but didn't answer.

As the three of them sat down, Jennifer asked, "Alright, the first thing I always ask students is 'what do expect to learn here?'" She pointed at Penny, "why don't you start."

Penny sat back and thought briefly. "I guess I'll learn a better way of dealing with creeps, should I have no other choice."

Jennifer nodded. "What do you mean with 'a better way'?"

"Well, it's like how I dealt with Melissa's ex, compared to how you handled it. You got him to the ground without actually hitting him."

Jennifer nodded and smiled, before turning to Melissa. "What about you?"

Penny glanced at Melissa, seeing the woman had trouble not breaking down in tears. Still, she managed to get an answer out. "I just don't want to be terrified to the point that I can't even move."

Jennifer nodded. "Well, you both need to realize that whatever I teach you, it won't make you invincible. Your first choice should always be to get out of the situation before it becomes a physical confrontation."

She turned to Penny. "I know I told you before I admired your handiwork on Melissa's ex, and you really did do great job, but your method has an inherent danger of injuring him to the point the police would have to arrest you. So, I'm glad you want to learn a more defensive way of handling things."

Jennifer then turned to Melissa. "Melissa, you need to understand that whatever I teach you, will be useless if you don't deal with your fear. I will teach you, but I'd strongly suggest you talk to a therapist about this issue as well."

Jennifer placed a hand on top of Melissa's. "You got scared when I told you you could join the class, didn't you?"

"Yeah, kinda."

Jennifer nodded. "Does it help to know it's going to be their first time as well? Most of them are probably as scared as you are."

Melissa shrugged. "I guess."

"What if I told you no man will be present during any of the lessons," Jennifer asked next. "I have two women with martial arts experience that will demonstrate with me and help you practice."

Penny frowned. "Really? No guys?"

Jennifer smiled. "Not these classes, no. I find that it defeats the purpose if I'd allow men to know my defense techniques. However, I also give general martial arts lessons, and you'd be free to join in a few times once you've learned the basics."

* * *

Leonard and Sam walked toward the cafeteria to get some lunch, Sam going over his results as they walked. Just before they entered the cafeteria, he noticed she'd been going over the final section and he started to grin. "Looks pretty good, doesn't it?"

Sam looked up at him, handing him his tablet back. "Very good, darling. My tests aren't giving me any promising results, so I'd say it's time I admit defeat so we can tackle your approach together, possibly schedule a full simulation on the mainframe over the weekend."

Leonard nodded, the grin still firmly in place. "I'm positive we can get the simulation program ready before tomorrow evening. That would give us the entire friday to finetune it, work out the bugs." They moved in line to get their food, keeping their experiment discussion to a minimum.

Walking with their trays, Leonard spotted Raj and Linda and, for Sam's benefit, gestured with his tray. "Let's join Raj and Linda."

They moved over and sat down. Leonard noticed his friend looked extremely tired. "You okay, Raj?"

"Yeah. No." He sighed. "Ever since Melissa told me about yesterday afternoon, I've been worried sick for her."

Leonard frowned. "Wasn't she ordered to take a week off, like Penny?"

Raj nodded. "Yes, but not until after she was already at my place. She'd switched with someone on the lunch shift, and was ready to leave when Penny started."

Leonard nodded. "Yeah, she was sent home by corporate."

Raj nodded. "Eric, Melissa's ex, waited for her by her car, ready to attack her. This time without Penny or the manager around to help her."

Leonard frowned even more. "I didn't know that. I don't think Penny knew, at least she didn't mention anything. Is she alright?"

Raj nodded again. "Yes, but only because the manager's fiancé was with her. She's the self-defense instructor." He sighed. "The thing is, I had a nightmare about Eric forcing Melissa to go back to him, and when I found her, she was in the hospital. When Eric got there, he started hitting her again for talking to me and the police forced me out of the room."

"Wow." Leonard shook his head. "I understand why that got to you. Doesn't seem like the police are doing much about protecting her."

Raj nodded. "Yeah. It really scares me, you know? And, even though she's going to those self-defense classes, I'm still scared something will happen."

* * *

Melissa watched as Jennifer and one of her two assistants showed how to break free from someone's hold from behind. It seemed easy enough, even though Melissa doubted if it would really be that easy when an actual guy would grab them.

With the explanation and demonstration finished, the group was asked to practice amongst each other. Penny turned to her. "Do you want to be the attacker?"

Melissa nodded, glad Penny suggested that scenario and not the other way around. They moved toward a free spot of to the side. Melissa turned just when one of the assistants unexpectedly grabbed Penny. She immediately performed the maneuver and broke free in an instant.

"Very good," the assistant said, nodding approvingly. "And I had pretty strong hold on you, too." She grinned. "I guess I should be glad you didn't do to me what you did to that creep."

Jennifer had approached them. "I'm telling you, you should've seen the guy yesterday. Broken nose, black eye, long scratch below the other eye, and his balls were probably still on the way down since last Saturday."

Despite the situation, Melissa had to laugh with Penny and the assistant at the description. Suddenly she felt two arms grab her from behind. Her first instinct was to not fight it, having learned in the past it would be over quicker if she didn't, but then realized she was here to learn how to defend herself effectively.

She did what Jennifer had shown them before and found herself to be free in matter of seconds, surprised at the relative easiness, despite the strong hold her attacker had seemed to have.

Jennifer nodded approvingly at her. "Good work, Melissa."

* * *

Penny entered the apartment, her phone held against her ear. "Wait, what?" She dropped the keys in the bowl Leonard had insisted to be put near the door, listening to her agent as she moved toward the sofa. "Wow." Penny sat in silence for a few seconds. "So, now what?"

She looked up just as Leonard entered, holding up her hand to forestall any verbal greeting. "You've _got_ to be kiddin' me!" She listened and nodded. "Yeah, I can do that." She grabbed the pen and paper Leonard had placed on the coffee table and wrote down the information, before thanking her agent and ending the call. "Oh... My... God!"

She threw her arms around Leonard, hugging and kissing him.

"I guess you got the part," Leonard asked her.

Penny shook her head. "Not the reporter part. But, because I talked science during the audition preparation, I got a part as a physicist!"

Leonard smiled. "That's great!"

Penny nodded, knowing she was grinning like a fool. "It get's better! It's a recurring role!"

"Wow!"

She threw her arms around him again. "I have to go in tomorrow, get the contract and sign it." Penny released him when she suddenly realized something. "Oh, crap. I'm probably gonna need a lawyer for that. Can I even find one at short notice? And how the hell am I gonna pay them?"

She let herself fall into his embrace. "Don't worry, Penny. I think we can find you a lawyer. Lemme call Howard. He once told me he has a couple of them in his family, and I'm sure we can get a deal."

Penny nodded and kissed him. "Thanks. I'd prefer if we could not tell him what it's for, but I guess he'd have to know it's for an acting job, to get a lawyer that's more familiar with that stuff."

Leonard nodded and retrieved his cell. Penny bit her lip in anticipation, only able to hear Leonard's side of the conversation. As she expected, Howard did need to know, but Leonard never mentioned it would be for a TV show, just that a contract needed to be signed for an acting job. After a few "yeah's", "sure's", and "okay's", Leonard ended the call.

"He's gonna call us back later this evening."

Penny smiled and hugged him again. "I can't believe this is happening!" She sat back again. "I think I'm gonna suggest having me wear the glasses, so I can really look the part." She smirked when she heard Leonard groan. "I know how much you like me in them."

* * *

"Hey," Melissa said, her back still turned to Raj's apartment door, her focus on the pots currently on the stove. Satisfied with the progress she turned around. "How was your day? Geez, you look like crap." She walked over to him when he just plopped down on the sofa. "What happened?"

"It's nothing. I'm just tired."

She sat down beside him. "Rough day at work?"

"Yeah."

Melissa frowned, not quite sure what to make of it. She could tell he was very tired, exhausted even, but she wasn't quite sure work was the cause. Now that she was thinking about it, she'd noticed this morning he'd seemed tired even before he left for work. "Raj, please talk to me." At his confused look, she elaborated. "I noticed you were tired this morning, before you left for work."

He seemed embarrassed and looked down, sighing as he did so. "I didn't want to worry you. Last night I had a nightmare and then lay awake for most of the night."

She smiled at him. "Why would that worry m... Eric?"

He nodded, still not really looking at her. "Somehow he managed to get you to go back with him. I found you later in the hospital, and you told me you didn't love me and he'd change."

"Raj, I'm never going back to him. Never. He's never going to change, but even if he would, I could never forget what he'd done. I might one day be able to forgive, but I wouldn't go back. I never really loved him anyway."

That last sentence she hadn't intended to say out loud. She didn't want him to know exactly why she'd been with him, or any of the other relationships she'd had up to she met Raj. Luckily, he didn't ask about it, either because he hadn't heard it, or because he was just too tired.

She stood up. "I have to check on supper. You think you'll be able to eat in a few minutes, or do you want to go to bed now?"

"I think I can stay awake for a bit longer."

She smiled at him. "Good. But you're going straight to bed after supper." She walked to the stove. Satisfied things were still going the way they were supposed to go, she walked back to the sofa, only to find Raj asleep.

* * *

Leonard parked the car in the public parking lot just across the large office building and turned the engine off. He glanced at Penny. "Nervous?"

She shrugged. "A little. I mean, this is all so new to me, and such an amazing opportunity. I guess I'm just worried things will go wrong."

Leonard nodded, hearing the anxiety in her voice. "I know it is. However, you've already gotten through the audition part, and this is just business." He held up his hand when he noticed she was going to say something. "I know, things could still go wrong, but this is not something you'll be able to control. The best thing to do would be to try to stay calm, let the big wigs and lawyers hash things out."

Penny smiled, seemingly calming down. "I guess you're right."

He leant in when she moved to kiss him. After some time had passed, and they separated, he glanced at the little clock on the dashboard. "We have about half an hour left. What do you want to do?"

She shrugged, and retrieved her cell as it signaled she had an incoming text. "Oh, my agent already arrived." She touched the screen. "Lemme give him a call."

Leonard gave a nod and sat back.

"Hi." After a short pause. "My boyfriend drove. We just arrived." She looked around. "Yeah, I see it. We're parked in that big parking lot." Another brief pause. "Alright, we'll be there in a minute. Bye."

Leonard opened the car door, when Penny did, informing him they would meet with her agent in a coffee shop adjacent to the office. Only two minutes later, they were seated at the table with Penny's agent.

Leonard had never met the guy, but he seemed really nice and professional. He asked if she had thought of getting a lawyer and was pleased to find she had indeed. He indicated another person that just arrived. "I've asked my lawyer to be present as well, so that's two lawyers that have your best interest in mind."

"Actually, just one," the man said. He introduced himself. "When you, Dr Hofstadter, told me where and when, I knew it was going to be the same appointment I was already scheduled to be at."

He sat down and opened his briefcase. "I've taken the liberty of asking for the contract to be sent ahead of time. It's mostly a common contract for these types of jobs. There's a guarantee of six episodes in the first season, provided the show will not be cancelled. There's a clause in there that will prevent you from changing your appearance too much."

The lawyer rattled off several more clauses, before finishing with a "that's all the common contractual commitments and obligations. Now we get to the less common ones. You will not be allowed to audition for, or accept, any acting job that would prevent you from performing your job on this production for at least the first two seasons, or the cancellation of the show, whichever comes first."

The agent seemed excited. "They're leaving their options open to have you return in season two!"

The lawyer nodded. "That does seem to be the intent. However that seems highly unfair to you. I'm going to insist on adding a financial compensation should you not be asked to come back during the second season. Furthermore, they should compensate you for the entire season, as you would not be allowed to do any other high profile acting job during that period."

"It's not very likely I would get another offer like this," Penny said.

The lawyer shrugged. "That doesn't really matter, though I would advise you to not bring that up during the negotiations. If they are explicitly preventing you from earning money, they should offer a financial compensation for that. Trust me, they will. These contracts are like a game. Each party tries to get the best, even though all parties know beforehand the offer or demand is just not going to be accepted."

* * *

Melissa busied herself cleaning up Raj's apartment, having insisted she'd do that for him, because he allowed her to stay with him for free. Honestly, she'd needed to do something, or she'd go crazy.

Raj had assured her he'd gotten a good night's sleep this time, and Melissa had been glad to hear that. She hated to be the cause of his nightmare, even though he had told her it wasn't her, but her ex and the police's general lack of providing protecting.

Of course he did have a point; up till now, the police hadn't done a very good job of keeping him away from her, despite the restraining order. Melissa knew that part of it was that she couldn't afford a lawyer to get this dealt with, but why should she, if the restraining order was already in place? It should be enough to protect her.

She let out a frustrated sigh. Why couldn't she have continued her education or get a decent paying job? Of course, had she done that, she'd probably never started her relationship with Eric in the first place.

She grabbed her cell when it suddenly rang. "Hey, Linda." She listened and walked towards the sofa. "Just cleaning Raj's apartment." She smiled. "No, it wasn't all that dirty or messy."

She shook her head. "You don't have to. You should focus on your research." After listening to Linda she sighed. "I really don't need my car, but since you keep insisting, I guess you can come on over." In all honesty, she was kinda glad her friend would come over to keep her company. Most importantly, keep her distracted from this entire mess with Eric. "I think Raj took the keys with him."

* * *

"Well, kid, seems like you're going to make it big."

Penny beamed at her agent as they walked back toward the coffee shop where Leonard was waiting. "I can hardly believe this is happening!" Had she really just signed her first TV show contract? It seemed all so unreal.

Her agent chuckled as they entered the coffee shop. "Believe it, it's happening for you."

Penny immediately went to Leonard and hugged him. "Oh my god, Leonard! I signed the contract!"

"That's great!"

She held on to him a little longer, before sitting down next to him, a huge smile still on her features.

"Penny," her agent drew her attention. "Now that you'll be on a TV show, you'll be getting more offers, requests for interviews, things like that. You will need to get better representation."

Penny turned to her agent. "What? But you've been my agent ever since I moved to Pasadena! I can't just leave you and find someone else!"

He smiled. "I admire your loyalty, but I really don't have the contacts or resources to properly handle that."

Penny shook her head. She had not expected to have to change agents because of this huge break. She liked her agent. He'd been so good to her, so nice, she really didn't want to just drop him. But he was probably right; he wasn't used to dealing with huge TV productions and all the hoopla that would come with that. She let out a sigh. "Do you know anyone?"

He smiled and nodded. "I know a few agencies that'll be able to represent you."

* * *

Linda parked Melissa's car in the parking lot belonging to Dr. Koothrappali's apartment building. She locked the car, and pulled out her cell. As she entered the apartment building, she dialed Melissa's number. "Hi! I just arrived, so it's just me who'll be knocking."

She used her free hand to knock on the apartment door. "Didn't want you to freak out at somebody knocking on the door," she said, as she disconnected and Melissa opened the door.

Melissa laughed, but Linda could tell it was forced. "I already knew you were coming, silly. Come on in."

Linda decided to not call her out on her forced laugh and entered the apartment, looking around as the door was closed behind her. It was a nice apartment, Linda thought.

Her attention was drawn to the telescope near the window. It was an expensive one, she realized immediately upon noticing the brand name and model, close to two thousand dollars. "Wow, I wish I could afford one like this."

She turned to Melissa who smiled, but frowned slightly. "Didn't you buy one like a year ago?"

Linda nodded and turned back to the telescope, admiring it once more. "Yeah, but this one costs four times what I had to pay for my slightly above average one." She inspected the mounts and noticed it had the connections to be hooked up to a computer, to aid in aiming the telescope. "I really should ask to come back at night so I could check out the clarity and range."

When she turned back, Melissa was grinning, at which Linda just shrugged. "I know, I'm a geek."

* * *

Leonard drove back to Pasadena, smiling as Penny kept talking about how well things had gone today. He was happy for her, but his insecurities were already pointing out to him she'd be walking in circles with better looking, more successful men. He hated feeling like this, despite Penny having already told him she wanted nobody else but him.

It wasn't that he didn't trust her, he was just afraid she'd figure one day she was more compatible with someone else. Someone more muscular, taller. Someone able to process dairy products without stinking up the place.

"I just hate I have to leave Gary, you know?"

Leonard nodded. "I know, but he can't really help you any further."

"Leonard, I've known him almost ten years! I can't just forget about that and move on to another agent as if he's nothing!"

Leonard glanced at Penny, who was staring out the passenger window. When she was talking like that, he realized once again how amazing the woman beside him really was. She was loyal, almost to a fault. She'd been loyal to Kurt for a long time, overlooking several glaring indicators of his unfaithfulness.

So why exactly was he worried she'd be leaving him for someone else? She'd never shown any indication of being interested in anyone else, she had a proven track record when it came to being loyal, the most recent proof being the pending switch in agency.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you," Penny interrupted his thoughts. "I know it's for the best, it's just hard on me."

"I don't think that was snapping," Leonard said. He wanted to say more, tell her that her outburst had helped him be less insecure, less afraid she'd leave him, but decided against it. "So, what's the plan now?"

Penny smiled at him. "I think we need to have a dinner with the entire gang. Originally I wanted to wait until we had taped the pilot, or maybe even until just before it would air, but there's no way I can keep this secret that long."

Leonard grinned at her. "I didn't think you could. You want to have the dinner at our place, or just at a restaurant?"

"Our place," Penny said, no hesitation. "That's going to be our first hosted dinner since we moved in."

Leonard chuckled. "I hope the gang will want to come when they find out who's cooking."

She playfully slapped him. "Hey, I can cook, once I set my mind to it."

"So, when should we have the dinner party?"

"How about Saturday? I think we should also invite Sam and maybe even Linda. I'm sure Raj will bring Melissa. So that's ten people. Holy crap! I think I'm going to need help preparing dinner."

* * *

"Who is it," Melissa asked when there was a knock on the door. To her relief, it turned out to be just Penny, and Melissa quickly opened the door. "Hey."

"Hi. Are you ready to go to Jen's dojo? Oh, hi, Linda."

Melissa nodded. "Lemme grab my gym bag." She moved quickly into Raj's bedroom, grabbed her stuff, put it in the bag and walked back to the living room. She hadn't intended to go, as Penny had informed her she wasn't sure she'd be able to make it. Going out alone scared her still, and she had decided to skip it.

"Oh, this Saturday Leonard and I will host a dinner at our place. You and Raj are invited. You too, Linda, if you want to come."

Melissa frowned, remembering Penny's statement about her cooking.

Penny grinned. "Don't worry, I'm going to get someone to help. You won't get poisoned, I promise."

Melissa laughed. "Sorry about that. I just remembered what you told me before."

She waved it off. "Don't worry, I'm not offended." Penny turned to Linda. "Will you be able to join us Saturday?"

Linda nodded. "Yeah, I don't have anything planned."

Penny smiled. "Great. Let me write down the address." She rummaged through her purse, apparently in search of a pen and some paper.

Melissa was quicker in getting a pen and paper ready. "Here you go, Penny."

She accepted the items and wrote down the address and handed it over to Linda. "We'll start eating around seven, but you're welcome anytime after six. Alright, Melissa, we better get goin', or we'll miss the training."

* * *

Penny frowned when she saw police and an EMT parked in front of the dojo. "What the hell happened there," she wondered out loud, glancing toward Melissa as she did so. She parked the car in the parking lot. "Come on, let's see what is going on."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Maybe we should just go back."

Penny shook her head. "No, I want to know, make sure it's not who I think it is." She felt she didn't need to elaborate any further; clearly Melissa had already thought of the same thing. "If you want, you can stay in the car?"

Melissa shook her head. "No, I'd rather be with you, and not alone in the car."

Penny nodded. "Alright, let's go see." Together they walked toward the front of the dojo.

One of Jennifer's assistants saw them coming and quickly intercepted them. "Apparently your ex followed Jennifer," she said, skipping any pleasantries. "She got him to the ground quickly enough, but it took the cops quite a while to get here."

Penny glanced toward the dojo, and saw Jennifer and the other assistant talking to the police.

"When Miranda and I arrived, Jennifer asked us to make sure none of the students would come in. As I went back outside to do just that, I guess he managed to get loose. I know I heard Miranda yell 'knife' and a minute later Jennifer asked to call for the paramedics."

"It's all my fault."

Penny turned to Melissa. "This is not your fault. Even if you hadn't dated him, he'd still been an ass at the Cheesecake Factory, which is really how all this started."

"Exactly," Jennifer's assistant said with a nod. "Nobody is blaming you."

Penny had turned back to watch the scene. "So, why the need for the EMT?"

"I'm not exactly sure what happened, all I know is that that creep was on the floor bleeding profusely. I think in their attempt to get the knife away, it either slashed him or stabbed into him. He's still alive, though."

Penny nodded, not exactly sure if she was relieved for Jennifer or disappointed he'd still be able to go after them later. Suddenly she spotted Jennifer's fiancé. "Dan!" She waved him over.

"He must have followed her when she dropped me off at the Cheesecake Factory," he answered Penny's question if he knew anything more. "From what I could hear her tell the police, he tried to stab Jennifer. When the three of them wrestled for the knife, it slashed across his abdomen."

"And what's going to happen now," Melissa asked.

"The police arrested him and this is where it gets interesting. Apparently, the Arcadia police department was contacted after his previous arrest. By the time they got any answers, bail had already been posted, or he wouldn't have gotten out."

"Why," Melissa asked.

"They found his wife," Dan said, shaking his head sadly. "She must have been there for almost a week, beaten until there was nothing more than a bloody mess. They found enough evidence to put him away for a long, long time."


	9. The Discipline Implementation

"Hey bestie," Amy said, entering Leonard and Penny's apartment.

"Hi Aimes," Penny answered, giving her a quick hug. "Thanks for offering to help me with dinner. Bernadette should be here soon, as well."

Amy nodded. "Of course I'll help my bestie. I think it's nice you and Leonard wanting to host a party for all of us."

Penny smiled and gave a small shrug. "Howard and Bernadette did when they had settled in their new place. Leonard and I just never got round to it." She walked back to the door when another knock came. "Hi Bernadette!"

"Hi Penny," Bernadette answered hugging her friend. "Hi Amy," she said, as the two doctors hugged each other next. She then turned back to Penny, who had moved toward the kitchen. "Something's smelling really good in here."

Penny glanced back over her shoulder. "I started a bit early, and I think I got it figured out. I may not actually need your help, but at least we can have a nice visit with just us girls, right?"

Bernadette and Amy both agreed and moved into the kitchen area, glancing in the pots currently on the stove. "It certainly smells good and it looks like you really got a handle on things," Bernadette said. "So, Penny, is your four month experiment completed?"

Penny smiled and nodded. "As of three weeks ago, actually. And not a single drop of alcohol. You know, I haven't really missed it as much as I thought I would." She glanced back up toward her two best friends. "That being said, the bottle is right over there," she said, pointing toward it. "But, I'm only going to have two glasses this entire afternoon."

Bernadette grabbed the bottle and Amy grabbed three glasses when Penny indicated their location. Penny continued chopping the vegetables, looking forward to just hang out with the girls and have some wine. Most of the food preparation had been completed, and she'd only need a couple more minutes before she could sit down for a little and talk with the girls.

"Where's Leonard," Bernadette asked.

"He went to the lab to get some work done. I think Sam was going to be there with him, so they'll probably arrive together."

"Where do you want me to put your glass, Penny," Amy asked.

"Just put it on the coffee table. I'll be done in a minute and we can just sit and talk for a bit." She finished her chopping, checked the time and decided the vegetables could be added right at that moment.

"Alright, this dish will need to sit for a few more minutes," Penny said as she joined her friends on the sofa. She took a sip of the wine and closed her eyes briefly. "Ah, I'd almost forgotten what it tasted like," she said with a smile.

They talked for awhile about what was going on in their lives, Penny being very careful not to mention anything regarding her pending career boost. In between chats, they worked on three more dishes, and were generally having a great time with just the three of them.

Amy had become a little envious when she learned Leonard had at one time needed to be driven home, because of certain activities the night before, and Penny felt bad for her. It was obvious Amy loved Sheldon, and it was equally obvious she was yearning for more, wanting, even _needing_ a more physical relationship.

Bernadette was shocked to learn Sheldon had indicated on two separate occasions that he did not rule out a physical relationship at some time, remarking that he seemed to become a real boy at last.

* * *

Melissa let out a sigh of contentment, placing her forehead against Raj. "You certainly are a good kisser, Dr. Koothrappali," she said. They'd been making out on his sofa for a while now, Melissa sitting in his lap. The movie they were suppose to be watching had finished and Melissa was certain they'd missed more than half of it.

"You're pretty good yourself," he replied.

Melissa smiled and repositioned herself to be able to rest her head against his shoulder. "I guess tonight I'll meet all your close friends for the first time. I hope they'll like me."

"Of course they will! You're an amazingly kind woman and just drop-dead gorgeous. The guys will be all over you." At her look he amended. "Okay, maybe not, since Howard is married, Leonard has Penny and Sheldon, well he's Sheldon. He's a pain anyway, so just ignore him if he makes any hurtful comment. He's not trying to be mean, he just doesn't understand social settings."

Melissa smiled, having heard several stories about Dr. Cooper already. "I'm more worried about the women."

"Well, you already know Penny, Linda and Samantha. Bernadette and Amy are both very nice, and I doubt they'll be mean to you."

"Hmm," was all Melissa said, deciding to drop the subject. "Hey, you should invite Linda sometime. When she was here last Thursday, she almost orgasmed when she saw your telescope. Couldn't stop talking about what a nice one you have." She playfully swatted him when he began to giggle. "I mean that thing right there," she said, pointing at the device near the window. "You've got a dirty mind, mister."

"Well, I was going to say that you were the only one, beside me, who's allowed to use my telescope."

She laughed at his grin and his eyebrows waggling. "I guess that's a good thing," she said, before kissing him again. "You know," she said, when they finally came up for air. "There are two ways we can go from here. Either we take a very cold shower, or..."

"I choose the second option," he said as he lifted her and moved to the bedroom.

* * *

Leonard felt Penny's hand moving to grab his, briefly squeezing it, before she smiled at him. She clearly was enjoying herself and happy with how the dinner party was going. The food tasted amazingly, and both Bernadette and Amy had assured everybody that Penny had pretty much done everything by herself.

Surprisingly, even Sheldon seemed to enjoy his evening. Of course, he had insisted on bringing his own take out, but Penny had anticipated that, having learned that lesson from the earlier dinner parties.

"So, Penny," Melissa said during a brief lull in the conversations. "When do you think you'll go back to the Cheesecake Factory, now that my ex is going to be locked up for a while?"

Penny smiled, happy to have someone steer the conversation to what she had set out to tell anyway. "Well, I may actually not work there anymore."

Leonard squeezed her hand, as she waited for everyone directing their attention to her, all with the same question.

"Last Tuesday I had an audition for a guest role on a new TV show. And Thursday I signed a contract for a recurring role on that TV show."

"You're kidding," Howard said. "Is that why you asked me if I knew any lawyers with experience on acting contracts?"

"Yes, and thank you, by the way," Penny answered. "As it turns out, your cousin was my agent's regular lawyer, so he would've been there anyway."

"So, what's the show about," Bernadette asked. "What character are you playing?"

"It's going to be a sitcom about a group of scientists, struggling getting through everyday life. I'll be playing a female experimental physicist on at least six episodes. If my character gets a good response, that might increase. The contract already prevents me from taking high profile jobs for the first two seasons, assuming the show is not cancelled."

"You auditioned for a guest role and managed to land a recurring role? How did that happen?"

Penny shrugged. "The audition scene involved the three lead characters. They were having a tough time with all the techno mumbo-jumbo, which, by the way, is going to be totally accurate, because they have an actual scientist as the adviser. Anyway, I explained the difference between a theoretical and experimental physicist, and when I was done going over the audition piece, I explained what Leonard had been doing."

"I guess the casting people saw that and figured you'd be better suited as a scientist," Melissa said.

"Yeah," Penny said, but Leonard noticed her frown. "Except, they weren't in the room when that happened."

"Didn't your agent tell you you got the part because you talked about science so easily?"

Penny nodded. "Yeah, he did. I guess one of the guys must have told them."

* * *

Penny entered the Cheesecake Factory, and looked for the manager on duty. She spotted Lisa just entering the manager officer, and walked toward the office. She knocked and waited to be invited. "Hi, Lisa," she greeted her manager.

"Good morning Penny," Lisa replied and then frowned. "Aren't you supposed to stay home for another five days?"

"Yes, but Melissa's ex is not getting out, now that he's the main suspect in his wife's death. Besides, I'm not here to work. I landed an acting job that's going to keep me pretty busy for a while."

Lisa smiled. "That's great! What will you be doing?"

"A recurring role on a new sitcom. I'll be in at least six episodes, but I'm not allowed to get another high profile acting job for the first two years, unless the show is cancelled before then. My lawyer got the producers to financially compensate for the weeks I can't do any other acting job."

Lisa nodded. "So, in other words, you probably won't need to work this job for a long while."

Penny smiled an apologetic smile. "Probably not."

"Don't feel sorry about that," Lisa said. "You finally get to be an actress. Even if the show will get cancelled, you'll still have been on TV and probably get noticed. You may never have to work as a waitress again. You can't tell me you love waitressing that much you'll miss it!"

Penny smiled and then laughed. "I definitely will not miss it. It's just, I kinda feel bad that this is on such short notice. I didn't sign the contract until last Thursday, and next Monday we have a table read."

"Penny, you're not the first waitress who has had to quit on short notice because of a good acting opportunity, and you won't be the last. Granted, you're the first to land a recurring role on a TV show, but that doesn't matter."

* * *

Leonard entered his lab, a little tired. Penny was going in to the table read today for her second episode, which was going to be the third episode overall. He'd been going over the script with her almost all day yesterday, helping her with the pronunciation of some of the scientific terminology. He was very impressed by the accuracy and the level; they were definitely not trying to dumb down anything, though they did seem to stick to the easier to comprehend subjects.

He was also very impressed by Penny's way of getting in the role; despite once telling him she found science boring, she'd started to read more about physics and asking him questions about it. He'd always suspected she was capable of learning anything, and the way she managed to learn her lines in a very short amount of time told him it wasn't a matter of her not being capable of learning things, but a matter of her just not being that interested in it.

He booted up his laptop and went to get a coffee. While doing that, he pondered the experiments Sam and he were conducting. So far, all they had were promising simulation results, but they still hadn't obtained the proof they had hoped to get.

Another simulation had been running over the weekend, though they had only changed a single thing compared to the previous run. They had actually bickered about that one for a while, but Leonard had insisted the change was worth a new run, and Sam had in the end relented. He felt a little bit bad about it, feeling he had more or less bullied her into his hunch, especially since he hadn't really allowed her to explain her changes.

He mentally shrugged, realizing he couldn't change what happened in the past, and opened the simulation results. He globally went over them once, frowned and delved deeper into the results.

"Oh my god!" Leonard glanced around the lab in excitement, but was disappointed to find Sam had not yet arrived. He directed his attention back to the results and checked the data once more.

"Good morning, darling," Sam greeted him as she entered the lab a few minutes later.

"Hey, Sam." Leonard pointed at the screen, realizing he was grinning widely. "I got the results from this weekend's simulation."

"I can tell by your excitement you found something big."

"Big? This is huge!" He got out of his seat and offered it to her. "Here, you go over the results, and I'll get you a coffee."

Leonard left his lab, a spring in his step as he made his way over to the coffee machine down the hall. He selected Sam's favorite and waited for the machine to dump it in the mug he'd taken with him, all the while humming a tune.

He took the now filled mug and walked back to his lab, stopping briefly to get himself a Red Bull from the machine close to his lab. By now, Sam had probably found the part that had gotten him so excited. He entered the lab and saw Sam's eyes had gone wide.

"That's unbelievable," she said as she noticed him. "I was excited to see that this protocol should provide the proof of Dr. Hawking's theory. But then I came to this part," she pointed at the result table on the screen, "That's quite a find."

Leonard grinned and nodded. "We need to rerun the simulation, but I think we can send these results to Dr. Hawking today."

"Oh, certainly," Sam agreed, taking a sip of her coffee. "I think another North Sea experiment will be planned."

Leonard nodded. "Yeah, but I'm not going to be part of it. I have no desire to be separated from Penny for any period of time."

Sam smiled. "I'm sure Penny would be happy to hear that. To be honest, I wouldn't be willing to go, either. Between the four months at sea and now being here, I think I've had my share of traveling."

Leonard suddenly felt bad. Not once had it occurred to him how hard it must be for Sam. In the span of a year, she'd been away from home for almost half that time. "How are you dealing with this?"

She looked at him. "I'm okay, darling. Obviously I miss my friends and family, but unlike you I don't have a significant other. And, honestly, being here is not as bad as being on a ship in the middle of the North Sea. At least here, I can go out, or hang out with you guys." She grinned. "Not to mention training Sheldon."

Leonard chuckled. "I have to admit, he's becoming a lot less awkward. Very impressive how you managed to change him in a little over a month."

Sam shrugged. "I only managed because I had gone through the same thing with Karen. Don't worry, there will be plenty of idiosyncrasies left. He'll still be Sheldon, just less awkward in social settings."

* * *

Melissa let out a grunt as she hit the training mat, but didn't allow herself to feel defeated and give up. Instead, she rolled with the momentum and got back to a standing position, immediately assuming a defensive stance.

She'd been going to Jennifer's dojo for almost four weeks, twice a week, and had become a bit more confident. Since Penny was working today, Melissa had to practice with other women in the group, but she wasn't as scared anymore.

"Alright, ladies," Jennifer said. "That's it for today. Next week we'll look at techniques to get out of a situation with multiple attackers."

Melissa walked to her gym bag at the edge of the practice area and grabbed her water bottle.

"Melissa," Jennifer said, approaching her. "I couldn't help but notice how much you've changed."

Melissa smiled. "Thanks. I do feel more confident, though some of it might have to with the fact that Eric is not getting out. After the trial he may even be gone forever."

"Do you know when the trial will start?"

She shook her head. "No, might be another two, three weeks." She glanced at the clock on her phone. "I better run. My shift starts in an hour."

After saying goodbye, she drove home, took a quick shower, put on her Cheesecake Factory uniform and drove toward the restaurant. She clocked in and searched for the manager to inform them she was present.

She found Dan exiting the manager office and walked over. "Hey, Dan."

"Hi Melissa. Today you'll be waiting more tables than usual. Just let me know if it gets to be too much to handle and I'll see if I can get someone to come in for another shift."

Melissa nodded. "I'll see how it goes. I'm sure I can handle it, though."

Over the next few hours she found herself running around, being very buys. She skipped two breaks, simply because there was no time to take them. She noticed a new customer sitting down at one of her tables, and walked over, retrieving the little notebook from her pocket. "Good evening, sir. What can I get you?"

"Hello, Melissa."

She froze for just a second. "Brian," she simply said, not even trying to be polite. "What do you want?"

"My brother out of jail."

"Sorry, can't help you with that." She glanced around, but didn't see her manager. "He's in jail because he's the main suspect in his wife's death."

"No, he's in jail because of you. If you had just stayed with him, he wouldn't have done that."

Melissa frowned. "Really? You're trying to blame his behavior on me? You do realize he's been beating up women for a long time, right?"

"Women should know their place. Every now and then us men have to show you your place. There's nothing wrong with that."

Melissa turned around. "I'll get you another waiter." She didn't hesitate when he grabbed her, and broke free from his hold, instinctively assuming a defensive posture.

One of the other customers stood up and told Brian to leave her alone, but Brian simply responded with a "stay out of it, asshole."

Melissa was ready for his attack, and moved just enough to let his fist fly past her face, grabbing his arm to use his momentum and shove him past her. Her leg stretched to make him trip and fall flat on his face. She immediately moved to sit on top of him, one knee on his right wrist, the other on his lower back. "You listen very carefully. I'm not going to let anyone tell me what to do, or force me into anything. You come near me again, and I'll show you all the other cool things I've learned. I want you, your brother, hell, your entire family out of my life. Permanently. Got it?" She allowed a little more weight on him when he didn't respond. "Got it?"

"You fucking bitch!"

"Sir," Dan said, causing Melissa to look up in surprise. "I'd appreciate you not swearing in our establishment. This is a family restaurant." He winked at Melissa, giving a small nod of approval. "I think it's best you leave," he added, bending down to grab him under the armpit.

Melissa let go when she saw Dan had a good hold. Brian began to struggle, but Dan was stronger, and had a good hold on him. She helped Dan to force Brian out of the Cheesecake Factory.

Melissa blushed when the customers started to applaud as she returned to the restaurant area.

* * *

Penny yawned. After the first table read of the day, the writers had asked if they could stay around, to see if certain changes would work out better. Several rounds of changes had followed, resulting in a long day.

In between the reading sessions, she'd talked with the main cast about her experiences before being cast in this role. All of them could relate to the disappointments of not getting a job, having to work all kinds of low paying jobs, just to survive, feeling you're just not good enough to make it as an actor or actress.

The science adviser for the show had sat up straighter during the current break; Penny was talking about her friends to the three guests on this episode. He had recognised the names of Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and even Howard, and seemed even more impressed to find that Penny was also friends with a neurobiologist and a microbiologist. "Now I understand why you seem to have the least trouble with the scientific terminology," he said. "You've been hearing about this stuff daily, I guess."

Penny smiled and rolled her eyes. "That plus comics, video games, Sci-Fi movies and shows. Sometimes they were driving me nuts. But they're all so nice. They don't make me feel like I'm stupid, you know?"

"So, how did you happen to hang around all these nerds," one of the producers asked.

Penny shrugged. "I just moved in the apartment across from Leonard and Sheldon." She chuckled. "I could tell right away Leonard had a crush on me, though it took me a long time to realize his feelings went so much deeper than that. And it took even longer for me to admit having feelings for him."

She smiled to herself, remembering that first day, taking a shower at their place. "Anyway, after that, I met the other guys, and I frequently hung out with them."

"Penny, can you… I mean..." The scientific adviser let out a frustrated sigh. "I've heard things about Dr. Cooper. I'm just curious if… uhm..."

Penny chuckled. "Well, what can I say about Dr. Whackadoodle? Leonard says he's textbook Asperger's, though Sheldon denies it. His life revolves around a strict adherence to routine and he hates unexpected changes. He had Leonard sign a roommate agreement, mostly to assure nothing would interfere with his daily routine. Not to mention the relationship agreement with his girlfriend."

* * *

" _Hi sexy._ "

Raj smiled at just hearing Melissa's voice as she answered the phone. "Hi. I just wanted to hear your voice."

" _Well, if you can wait twenty minutes, you can hear it straight from my mouth, instead of over this phone. As a bonus, you get to see me as well._ "

He giggled. "Oh, that would be great. Does that mean you will spend the night?"

" _Duh. I'm not just coming over so you can hear my voice properly._ "

"You do realize you've spend more time at my apartment then you have at yours?" He managed to not mention living together, not sure if she was even ready for that.

" _You're not complaining, are you?_ "

"No, of course not! If you want, you can stay here every night."

" _Hmm, that does sound very inviting. Raj, I really love you, but I'm not sure about moving in. I mean, I'm still going to spend a lot of nights at your place. It's just, I don't know. It seems too quick to move in together. I hope you understand that I'm not turning you down or anything._ "

Raj shook his head. "No, that's okay. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure if I'd be ready for that." Of course he was, but he didn't want her to feel pressured.

" _Good. Oh, Dan is ready to walk us girls to our cars, so I got to go. I'll be there in twenty. I love you._ "

"I love you, too." Raj hung up, and frowned. Why did the manager need to escort the women to their car? As far as he knew, Eric was still locked up. Of course, it could be the Cheesecake Factory had introduced the policy. He busied himself changing the bed and straightening up the apartment. Since he usually kept it pretty clean, it didn't take him long and he was already sitting a little over five minutes when he heard Melissa inserting her key in the lock.

"Hi," she greeted him, kissing him on the lips, before moving towards the bedroom, stripping out of her uniform on the way.

Raj followed her with his eyes, again amazed that this beautiful, sweet, funny woman had chosen to be with him.

"I'm gonna take a quick shower," she told him through his opened bedroom door. "And then I wanna cuddle up with you and watch some TV."

"Sure, take your time," he said, hoping she would do the opposite so he could hold her.

Ten minutes later she walked out of his bedroom, clad in a towel. She sat down next to him on the sofa and, as she had told him, snuggled into him for a cuddle. "Hmm, I missed this."

Raj smiled. "Yeah, me too." They remained seated like that on his sofa for just an hour, before Melissa declared she'd wound down enough to go to bed. Raj was glad, as he'd been nearly falling asleep for the last half hour.

* * *

Penny smiled, listening to Leonard talking about the unexpected results from this weekend's simulation. She wasn't paying much attention to the words, but the passion and excitement behind them. Suddenly, some of his words registered, and she lifted her head with what she knew had to be fear in her eyes.

"Oh, no. I'm not going. No way," he assured her as soon as she had lifted her head. "One time was more than enough for the foreseeable future."

"Good. Because I'm not sure I would let you go this time."

He grinned. "Good to know. But honestly, I've no desire to embark on another long term expedition. A week I could probably do, but nothing that would keep me away from you any longer than that. So, how did the table read go?"

Penny smiled. "Pretty good. I mean, it took a long time, because the writers kept changing the script. In between the reading sessions, we just talked about things, like how hard it is to get the big break all of us had been looking for. Our science dude didn't know I've been hanging around you guys..."

"Science _dude_ ," Leonard asked, a grin on his face.

Penny sighed. "Anyway, he knew you guys by name." She giggled. "He was very curious about Sheldon and how much of the stuff he'd read or heard about him were true. I'm sure I told him more than he heard before. Oh, the producers asked if you guys would like to come to the taping this Friday. I'm not sure Sheldon would want to, but I guess nobody else minds. I just hope you'll all have time."

"I guess Sheldon will not be thrilled, but I'm sure the rest of us will be there. I know I'll be."

Penny smiled. "I'll ask the rest of the gang tomorrow."

* * *

"Melissa," Jennifer said, approaching the group of students. "Dan told me what happened yesterday."

"What," Penny asked, her head whipping around to Melissa quickly. "Eric didn't get out, did he?"

Melissa smiled and shook her head. "No, he's still locked up. His brother, Brian, came by at the Cheesecake Factory though. Apparently, because I left Eric, he beat his wife to death, and thus it's my fault Eric's now locked up."

"That's absurd," Penny exclaimed. "What happened then?"

Melissa shrugged. "Uhm, well, he tried to attack me, and Dan wasn't around, so I used some of the techniques I learned here to get him to the ground and immobilize him."

Penny grinned. "Oh, I wish I could've seen that!"

Melissa grinned in response, for the first time feeling proud of her way of dealing with Brian. "I told him if he came back I'd show more techniques I've learned. And then Dan showed up and together we removed him from the premises."

Jennifer had followed the conversation with a smile. Her two assistants had the same smile, all three of them realizing that the other students, hearing this, would be extra motivated to learn more, now that one of their own had proven the effectiveness.

* * *

"This is so cool," Leonard said to Howard, as they looked at the set in between scenes. "Have you ever been to a taping of a TV show?"

"No, I think it's safe to say none of us have," his friend replied, looking around with interest. "But it's definitely cool."

Leonard grinned and nodded, as they walked back to the writer's room, where the entire group was seated. They were currently halfway through the episode, which he only knew because he'd been going over the script with Penny. Given the time, he figured they'd be here for at least another two hours.

"It's a good thing Sheldon decided not to come," Howard said. "Not only would he be complaining about the amount of time it takes, but why they didn't ask him as the science adviser."

Leonard chuckled. "Yeah, he probably would. But you have to admit that could've been fun to watch."

"What would be fun to watch," Penny asked, walking up to them, giving Leonard a quick kiss.

"Watch Sheldon argue with the writers and producers about the science," Leonard replied, smiling at her.

Penny giggled. "Yeah, I'm sure he would. So, guys, whadda ya think?"

"The show is so funny," Bernadette replied. "And it's uncanny how the characters seem to behave so much like the guys."

Sam nodded. "Yes, and the accuracy of the science is also impressive."

"Penny, are these your friends?"

Penny nodded. "Yeah."

As she introduced them, Leonard couldn't help but notice she had put her arm around him as soon as the guy arrived, and kept it there. The emphasis on 'boyfriend' as she introduced him was also very obvious. They talked for a little, before the guy walked away again. Penny's arm hadn't moved from it's spot the entire time. He was about to confront her, when one of the lead actors approached.

"Is Peter still trying to get you to go on a date?"

Penny rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I figured I'd better show him I'm already in a committed relationship."

Leonard kept quiet. Her almost casual categorizing their relationship as 'committed' made him want to do a happy dance, no matter how foolish he would look. Despite living together for just over a month, this was the first time she mentioned anything as strong as this.

"Yeah, well, let me know if he gives you any more trouble. He only has a small role, and if he keeps bothering you or the other women, we can have him replaced."

"Don't worry Rick, I can handle it." She turned to Leonard. "Honey, just a heads up, that guy and I will have to kiss in one of the scenes."

Leonard nodded, already knowing that from going over the script with her several times. "I know. It's part of your job. I'm cool." He doubted he'd fooled her anymore than he did himself, but she kissed him nevertheless, before returning to prepare for the next scene.

* * *

Penny wasn't looking forward to doing the scene again. The last five times Peter had held her just a bit too tightly, his kissing just a bit too real. Of course she didn't want to complain, and he was just a one time guest.

"Penny," one of the producers said. "A word, please?"

Penny nodded and followed him. To her surprise, all regular cast members were present, as was the director and the other producer.

"Penny, how do you feel about Peter? Are you comfortable to do the scene with him again?"

Penny shrugged, not sure if she should complain too much. "Sure."

"Are you sure," the producer asked again. "Obviously we'd prefer doing this scene with him, but if needed we can redo his scenes with his backup."

Penny was relieved to find the producers and cast were actually looking out for her, giving her an out. "No, I can handle it. I really hope this is the last take, though."

The director nodded. "It is. If he 'screws up' again, he's out of here, and we'll redo the scenes with his backup."

Again, Penny was relieved, both knowing it would be the last take with the creepy actor, and knowing they didn't blame her for the already five takes of what was in essence not much more than a single line from her and some kissing. "Alright, let's get this over with so we can all go home."

A couple of minutes later, and Penny was regretting agreeing to another take. Peter was definitely the most obnoxious, most unprofessional actor she'd ever met. He seemed to think acting gave him permission to try and slip in a tongue during a kissing scene, or place his hands on her ass, even though that was not in the script and the director had told him after each take he shouldn't do that.

The director yelled 'cut' and Peter was asked to follow the producers. Penny glanced at the director who shrugged and then followed the producers and Peter. Penny walked toward the writer's room, knowing her friends were there.

Rick, who played her fellow experimental physicist, was talking with Leonard, and Penny became curious. She wrapped her arm around Leonard and gave him a quick kiss. "Hi. What's going on?"

"I was explaining to your boyfriend most actors don't behave like Peter," Rick answered. "He said he knew that."

Penny raised an eyebrow as she looked at Leonard. "Really?"

Leonard nodded. "Yeah, I've seen you in several plays, with the occasional kissing scenes. I've never seen any of them behave like he did. Besides, I trust you." Grinning he added "Well, I do now."

* * *

"He has no idea how lucky he is Penny didn't punch his lights out," Howard said, as Bernie drove him, Raj and Melissa back to Pasadena. They'd all seen how that Peter guy had behaved, both on and off set.

Melissa giggled, "yeah, she's really good at that. Have you ever seen her handiwork?"

Howard glanced at Bernadette. He wasn't sure if he should tell about his experience in front of her, but then again, Penny might have told her already. He sighed. "I may have been the recipient once."

"Of course you were, Howie," Bernadette said in a, to Howards relieve, friendly way. "You tried to kiss her after she told you you were a nice guy."

"Dude, you were lucky Penny came up with that 'slipped and fell' story."

Howard turned around. "I think we can all agree nobody really believed that." He turned back to Bernadette. "And, yes, I did deserve it. Nevertheless, that guy hasn't got a clue what could've happened to him."

"I'm pretty sure Penny didn't do anything because of being in the public eye now," Melissa said. "She's smart enough to realize it could reflect badly on her."

"That's probably true," Howard agreed with a nod. "I heard what Rick said to Leonard, that he would've loved to just kick that guys ass, but that wouldn't be good for him."

"Maybe you should've handled him, Melissa," Bernadette suggested. "I heard you dealt with that guy at the Cheesecake Factory very effectively."

"What?!"

Howard turned around to look at his friend. He understood why Raj was upset to hearing this only now, but his reaction might have an adverse effect on his girlfriend.

"Uhm, yeah, the other day Eric's brother came by. He implied it was my fault his brother had beaten his wife to death and is now in prison."

"But, that's absurd!"

"That's what I told him. And then I told him I would get another waitress, and then he grabbed me from behind. I executed the move Jen has us practice every single lesson, and when he attacked me, I forced him to the ground and told him he and his family should leave me the hell alone. Dan, the manager, then helped me force him out of the Cheesecake Factory. I haven't seen him since."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

Melissa shrugged. "I didn't want to worry you. And I really don't think you have to. Like I said, I haven't seen him since, and Brian isn't as bad as Eric."


	10. The Relationship Modification

Penny sat down next to Leonard on the small sofa in the dressing room, waiting to be called on stage for an interview with David Letterman. She couldn't remember the last time she was this nervous and was glad Leonard had been able to accompany her on this trip, though that was technically because he had been invited to talk about the findings Sam and he had made.

She glanced down as he intertwined their fingers, rubbing his thumb over her hand. She smiled at him and kissed him, being careful not to mess up her lipstick. "I'm glad you had to be in New York as well. I'm so nervous for this, I guess because it's the first time for me."

"I would've come even if I wasn't supposed to talk about the North Sea expedition and the recent developments."

Penny smiled, knowing he would indeed have come. At the same time she felt another surge of pride in his accomplishments. Together with Sam he had managed to fine tune the experiment and, in simulations at least, found the proof they were after. "I guess I knew that. I really appreciate your support, Leonard."

"Why wouldn't I support you? You've supported me when I had the chance to take part in the North Sea expedition."

Penny smiled again and gave him a sideways hug. "I guess we'll always support each other." After a short pause she added, "So, how did your presentation go?"

He grinned. "Pretty good. I just felt bad that Sam couldn't be there, get the applause and recognition for our work. Of course I mentioned that even though I was the only one presenting, it was full and equal collaboration."

Of course Leonard told them that, and he had probably done so several times. He wasn't one to claim success just because his partner wasn't there to present the results with him. If anything, Leonard would prefer downplaying his own contribution. The only reason he couldn't do that this time was because of the statement released by Stephen Hawking.

"Penny, they're almost ready. You'll be on right after David's monologue, which he'll start in a minute or so."

Penny nodded to the assistant assigned to her. "Thanks, Sheila." She turned to Leonard. "Are you going to be in the audience or do you wanna watch from my dressing room?" She could tell by his reaction to her suggestion to be in the audience, he'd preferred staying where he was.

"No, I'd rather stay here and watch you on the monitor, if that's okay with you."

She smiled. "Of course that's okay." She kissed him again, ignoring the very audible sigh from the make-up artist who had arrived just then for a last check. "I love you," she whispered into Leonard's ear, before getting up of the couch. "Okay, wish me luck."

"You'll do great, but good luck," Leonard replied.

Penny smiled at him before stepping into the hallway to make her way over to the back of the stage.

* * *

"Penny," Leonard called the attention of his girlfriend as he glanced at the boarding pass. "This is a flight to Philadelphia."

Penny turned to him with a smile. "Uh huh."

"There's no other ticket," Leonard asked.

"Nope." She seemed to enjoy his confusion, but after a few seconds added, "I figured we'd just hop over the state border and go to Camden for a few days."

Leonard started to smile, realizing Penny wanted to meet more of his family, but then frowned. "But I'm supposed to be at work tomorrow."

"Actually, you're not supposed to go back there for at least two weeks, since you worked all summer. Orders from Dr. Gablehauser. And I don't have to go back for another week and a half for the next episode. Did you realize I've only ever met your mother? I figured it's about time I meet the rest of your family."

Leonard grinned and hugged her. "You're awesome, you know that?"

"I did know that," Penny replied with a wink. "But I don't mind hearing you say that every now and then."

Leonard held her close. "I just hope you won't regret this decision. My family is… different." He felt her reassuring squeeze.

* * *

Melissa sat down a little nervously next to Raj. His parents would be calling him any minute now, and Raj had asked her to be there, so he could introduce her. She felt very nervous, mostly because she was afraid his parents would disapprove of her. She had asked Raj if she could sit just out of the camera's view and only if she felt comfortable would she move into view.

She glanced down when his hand gently grabbed hers and smiled timidly at him.

"Don't worry. My parents can sometimes be strict, but all they really want is for me to be happy. And I am, with you."

She couldn't help but lean in and kiss him. _He's just too damn cute_ , she thought to herself. She became nervous again when the laptop signaled an incoming Skype call. She moved slightly so that she wouldn't be in the frame, still unsure if she wanted to be introduced, and undoubtedly judged, by his parents. She watched Raj's face as he exchanged pleasantries with his parents. It was clear to her that he loved his parents a lot, though she had assumed that was the case, based on how often he spoke of them in a positive way.

"No, Mommy, that is not necessary."

" _Rajesh, you are over thirty. You need to find a nice girl to settle down with._ "

Melissa saw what this was doing to him, so he put her hand on his leg for support, knowing it would make her presence known to his parents.

" _Who's there with you, Rajesh?_ "

"Uhm."

Melissa saw Raj was unsure if she had intended to be seen, so she leaned in to put her face in frame. "That would be his girlfriend, Mrs. Koothrappali." She winked at Raj and his surprised but happy face, and scooted over to sit right next to him, fully in frame.

"Mommy, Daddy, this beautiful woman is Melissa. We've been dating for almost two months. Melissa, these are my parents Dr. and Mrs. Koothrappali."

" _Rajesh, is this like the last time you introduced your 'girlfriend'?_ "

Melissa tried not to frown, but wondered just who Raj's father was referring to.

"No, Papa, not this time. Melissa really is my girlfriend."

" _Move to the bedroom, Rajesh. We need to talk to you in private._ "

"No, we can talk right here," Raj replied immediately. "She is my girlfriend and I'm not going to keep things from her."

Melissa kept her hand on his leg, giving it light squeeze.

His father started speaking in Hindi, along with his mother, in an attempt to make the conversation private.

"This is really disrespectful," Raj interrupted them. "Whatever it is you have to say, you can say it in front of her in English, or just don't talk at all!"

"Raj, don't talk like that to your parents!"

Raj turned to her. "But they are being disrespectful to you. To us, really."

"Raj, they are your parents. They indicated they wanted a private conversation and you refused to move or ask me to leave. That was being disrespectful. So, they did the next best thing. You have to respect their wish to have a private conversation."

Raj smiled at her, sighed and turned back to the computer, continuing the conversation in Hindi. After a minute or so, Raj became agitated again. "Melissa and I are together and there is nothing you can do about it that will change my mind. Goodbye." He closed the laptop and moved to the bedroom.

* * *

Raj was pacing in his bedroom, not really sure why he had moved away from Melissa. He was angry with his parents and their closed-off minds, not at her. His parents were only interested in him marrying an Indian woman, and could not understand that he found an American woman who was far more appealing to him than any of the Indian women he had ever seen. He turned to the door when he heard a soft knock.

"Raj? Are you okay?"

He walked toward the door and opened it. "Uh, yeah. Sorry I walked away from you."

"That's alright, honey. I understand you were upset over the conversation, not with me."

He smiled slightly, before moving back to his sofa. "I'm a little more than upset." He sat down and turned to her as she sat down right beside him. "They don't approve of us."

Melissa nodded. "Did you really expect them to? You've told me they've tried to hook you up with an Indian woman on several occasions, did you really expect them to approve of a relationship with an American?"

"Maybe I shouldn't, but then I'm thinking, 'why can't they just be happy for me?' That's not too much to ask for, is it?"

"Maybe, but you have to give them some time to get used to it."

Raj shook his head. "I don't know. They seem really opposed to me dating anyone but an Indian woman." He was silent for a while. "They insulted you, you know?"

"Oh, I've been called worse than a 'white play thing'."

"Maybe so, but it really… Wait, how did you know what they called you?"

She looked up at him shyly. "My uncle married an Indian woman. I've been learning Hindi since I was six. I can pretty much understand anything, though I'm not really fluent speaking."

He looked at her stunned, and then began to chuckle. "I guess the conversation wasn't as private as mommy and daddy had hoped."

She giggled. "You don't mind do you? That I didn't tell any of you I could understand what was being said."

He shook his head. "No, of course not. I didn't want the conversation to be private anyway."

He wrapped an arm around her as she leaned into him, placing her head on his shoulder. He really was a lucky man to have her in his life.

"Raj?"

He turned to her, a smile on his face.

"Explain the money thing your parents threatened with."

* * *

She panted heavily, rolling along to lay with her head on top of his chest.

"Wow."

She grinned, sure he felt it against his skin, listening to his heart beating. She frowned slightly. "Are you going to be okay, Howie?"

"Yeah, sure. Just give it a few minutes and my it'll be back to normal."

"Next time, I'll do the heavy lifting again," Bernadette said. "I want you around for a lot longer." She was pretty sure he wouldn't complain. He seemed to prefer it that way most of the time.

"Bernie, I know you're just being concerned, but I can't always let you do the lifting." She felt a kiss on the top of her head. "Just… you know… Most of the time."

Bernadette grinned again, being proven right about her assumption. "It's fine, Howie. I don't mind. I kinda like having that much control of our sex life. Not that you taking control wasn't fun, because it was." She felt another kiss.

"See, we're perfect for each other."

They really were, Bernadette thought. Their relationship was really solid, and Howard had really stepped up to do more household jobs, allowing her to relax more often. Actually, she was really impressed by the things Howard did around the condo, considering he'd never had to do anything when he lived with his mom.

Usually he was the first to come home, and he would actually prepare a home cooked meal. Granted, the first couple of times it wasn't the best tasting, but he had really learned how to cook and these days it usually tasted amazing. Bernadette couldn't even remember the last time she cooked on a weekday.

He had actually cooked this weekend as well, stating that he knew she had a stressful week and he wanted to make sure she could wind down over the weekend. And thanks to him, she actually had. He'd done pretty much everything around the house, cooking, cleaning, washing and giving her massages.

* * *

Penny looked at Leonard as he drove them away from his sister's house in their rental. "I'm sorry, Leonard."

"What? No, it's alright. I know you had to meet my family some day."

Penny sighed, putting her hand on his upper leg. "Leonard, sweetie, they treat you like dirt. Both your mom and sister were quick to point out you had help on your recent discovery. I wanted to stand up to them, you know, support my man, but I was afraid I'd make it worse." She sighed again and shook her head. "I understand if you don't wanna go to your father or your brother."

"Actually, I don't mind visiting my brother. And honestly, my father has been really trying to make up for the times he let work come before me or our family. I guess it's a good thing we visited my mother and sister first."

Penny frowned slightly. "Are you sure, sweetie?"

"Yeah. You'll see, it'll be much better visit."

Penny smiled and lightly tapped his leg. "Alright, let's go see your dad." She watched him confidently navigating the now busy streets, looking at the buildings and objects he pointed out to her.

Her smile turned sad as he pointed out the high school he'd attended, remembering stories of his time there. She couldn't imagine having to deal with daily bullying, just because you're different, smarter than your peers.

She also felt guilt and shame, as she remembered she'd done the same at her high school. Would she have done the same to Leonard if they'd gone to the same school at the same time? She couldn't imagine it now, but maybe back then, she might have.

"Penny?"

She turned to Leonard, slightly surprised to find they were parked in front of an apartment building.

"Are you okay? You just sat there staring ahead."

She nodded, undid her seatbelt, and leaned across the center console to kiss him. "I was just thinking about you growing up." It was only half a lie, really. She didn't want to tell him she thought she would've bullied him as well. "Let's go meet your father."

* * *

Amy opened her door in surprise. "Hello, Sheldon. I didn't expect you." She motioned for him to enter her apartment.

As Sheldon took of his jacket and hung it in its usual place, he answered, "Considering this is not our designated date night, and I didn't inform you I would be visiting, that is hardly surprising."

Amy nodded, feeling relieved she hadn't forgotten an appointment. "Can I get you a beverage?"

He nodded as he sat down in his usual spot in her apartment. "I would like some tea, please."

Amy gave a nod and went to her little kitchen to put the kettle on. She wondered why he had traveled across town, assumingly by bus, in the middle of the week. As she waited for the water to boil, she grabbed the tea flavor she knew Sheldon preferred, and after a moment decided she'd have the same tonight.

"You are probably wondering why I am here, without prior notification, on a Tuesday evening."

Amy turned around, slightly surprised as she hadn't heard him move or approach her. She smiled. "I admit I'm intrigued by this unexpected visit."

Sheldon cleared his throat. "As you are aware, Sam has been tutoring me in matters of social conventions."

Amy nodded with a smile. The British doctor had done a remarkable job in the two months she had been in Pasadena. "I am. Go on."

"She and I have also briefly discussed the relationship agreement, and she pointed out to me that, while I frequently amended the roommate agreement with Leonard, our relationship agreement remains unchanged for over a year."

Amy nodded, frowning slightly. Where was he going with this? Just then the kettle whistled, and she turned it off. Pouring the hot water into the two tea mugs, her frown deepened. All the amendments to the roommate agreement had been in favor of Sheldon. The relationship agreement already was heavily favoring Sheldon, and the prospect of amendments didn't seem like a good thing to her. With some trepidation, she carried the two mugs over to the coffee table and sat down on the couch.

Sheldon sat down next to her, holding his tablet with the relationship agreement opened. "Sam made me promise that any amendments have to be positive for both parties." He cleared his throat again. "The first proposed amendment is in regard to date nights."

Amy was still looking doubtful. What Sheldon viewed as positive for them both, wasn't necessarily positive to her. "Alright. What do you propose?"

"I propose date night should from this moment forward be held every other week on either Thursdays or Fridays."

Amy's eyebrows shot up, her heart skipping a beat. "You're _increasing_ the frequency?"

Sheldon nodded solemnly. "Yes, to every other week. Now, the decision for Thursday or Friday must be agreed upon by the Sunday evening prior to the date night itself."

Amy was sure she was just gaping at him. This was so unexpected, yet so welcome, she just didn't know what to say.

"If you agree to the amendment and the conditions and terms, press here," he indicated a spot right next to the changed term of the agreement.

Amy hovered with her finger above the spot, but then paused and looked at him. "Sheldon, are you sure about this? Do you feel comfortable enough with this change?"

He nodded. "Of course. Why would I propose a term I wouldn't want to be held to?"

Amy looked at him and he did seem to be sincere. She placed her finger on the designated spot, her initials automatically appearing next to change. "Then I agree." She was surprised to see an actual smile on his face.

They both sipped their tea, Amy letting her mind wander about how they might spend the additional date nights. A slight frowned formed. Most date nights had been planned by Sheldon, doing things he wanted to do. Only on a few occasions had it been something she enjoyed. Before she could bring up any concerns, he cleared his throat once again.

"Alright, let's move on to the second amendment."

Amy put her tea mug back on the coffee table. "Sheldon, wait. Can I propose another amendment to the date night section?" At his nod, she sighed. "While I'm looking forward to the additional date nights, I do have some concerns regarding the manner in which they are to be fulfilled."

At her pause, he said. "What do you mean?"

She cleared her throat. "Well, most of our date nights to date have been about what you deemed suitable. However, on most cases it wasn't all that enjoyable for me."

He looked at her surprised. "Oh, I didn't realize that." He pondered this for a few seconds. "We could add another term to the date night section, stipulating that we alternate the responsibility of who will plan the night's activities, with a note that both parties must attempt to plan activities that both might enjoy."

Amy looked at him thoughtfully. "That seems acceptable. Thank you, Sheldon."

He just nodded, as he typed up the additional term. It took him only a minute or so, before he presented it to her, along with the little circular area allowing her to initial the addition, which she did.

"Alright, on to the second amendment."

Amy nodded, curious what he could possibly want to change more.

He cleared his throat. "I propose adding an additional section to the relationship agreement, stating that every first weekend of the month, the weekend being defined as Friday evening until Monday morning, you will stay in my apartment. Now, before you object, you will not have to sleep on the couch."

"Hoo." Amy's hand flew to her mouth.

"Ah, no! I meant for you to be staying in Leonard's former room."

Amy smiled, despite the disappointment she felt. "Of course." It really wasn't very realistic of her to assume they'd be sharing a bed. "So how does this work in relation to the date night modification. Would you consider it acceptable if we have a date night on Thursday, and me staying the weekend starting at Friday evening? Or would you prefer to have date nights on those weeks to coincide?"

He contemplated this for a few seconds. "I have no objection either way."

Amy smiled and shakily pressed her finger on the circular area. Again she could see a genuine smile on his face.

"Well then, those were the amendments I had in mind. Amy, do you have any thing you would like to be changed, added or removed from the relationship agreement?"

Amy shook her head. "No, not at this time. Sheldon, I really appreciate your willingness to make these changes. I know we haven't really talked about that evening when we all played Dungeons and Dragons, but I do remember you telling me you may some day be ready for a more intimate relationship. I know these changes to the relationship agreement are pretty big to you, but they do prove to me that you are indeed willing to work on one day becoming physically intimate. So, for that, I thank you."

Sheldon gave a small nod. "You're welcome, Amy Farrah Fowler." He glanced at his watch. "Alright, I better get going. It takes over half an hour by bus."

Amy placed her hand on his leg, then quickly retracted it. "Sheldon, I can drive you back to your apartment. That only takes ten minutes. And I really don't mind."

* * *

"I'm proud of you, Leonard."

Leonard looked at his father and could tell he meant it.

"Despite your upbringing, you managed to both be successful in work and find happiness and love."

Leonard let a small smile form, glancing at Penny at his father's words and implied approval of his girlfriend. Penny smiled back at him, her hand touching his leg. He quickly turned back when he noticed she was at the verge of crying. "Thank you, Father."

"And do not pay too much attention to Mother or your sister when they try to put you down. Your sister can't help it, she simply copied what Mother did and doesn't know any better."

Leonard sighed and frowned. "Yeah, we were there before. They seem to like and approve of Penny, though. I just don't get it. Why was I treated differently?"

His father looked down at the floor. "It's mostly my fault. You are my son and I should have done more to support you, look out for you." He sighed, before looking up. "Mother isn't your biological mother."

To say Leonard was stunned was an understatement. He just sat there, his mouth hanging open. He felt Penny's hand on his leg squeezing slightly in support.

"I had an affair with one of my students." His father stared of in space, a sad smile forming. "She was compassionate, loving. The complete opposite of Mother and, to some degree, me." He shook his head. "There were a lot of complications when you were born and sadly she passed away mere hours after you were born."

Leonard didn't know what to say, or really how to feel. One moment he gained a new mother, the next he lost her already.

"She had no family, at least none that were willing or able to take care of a baby, and I let Mother talk me into raising you ourselves. I knew she resented both of us, me for having an affair, you because you were, in her eyes, a mistake, unworthy. That's why she's been treating you like this, why she became so cold and distant toward both of us. She had always been clinical, but my affair made it much worse."

"Am I a mistake?"

His father turned to him. "No, absolutely not. You are my son and you were born out of love, not out of a duty to procreate, like your siblings. I am to blame for the way you have been treated. I made the mistake of having an affair, I made the mistake of not looking out for you. I let Mother, and by extension your sister, treat you as if you were nothing, unimportant."

Leonard sat back, finding his hand had already clutched Penny's, drawing comfort from the simple act of sitting next to her, holding hands.

"Do you have pictures of Leonard's biological mother?"

Leonard glanced at her, glad she asked. His mind was processing a lot of information, and he would've kicked himself later for not asking.

His father stood up. "I think I have. I might even have a home video that I had transferred to DVD. I'll look for that. Leonard, your brother and sister do not know about this. While I don't mind whether they find out or not, you might want to remember that next time you talk to them."

Leonard nodded and watched his father retreat in search of pictures and possibly a DVD.

"How are you holding up, honey?"

He turned to Penny. "I'm not sure, really." He leaned in to the comforting hug. "How am I supposed to feel now? Happy that Mother isn't my real mother. Sad that my real mother passed away? Should I be angry at Father for letting Mother treat me like that? Or should I be thankful that he finally told me?"

Her head was on his shoulder, her arms tightening around him. "I don't know, sweetie. I really don't know. I guess we'll have to figure this out together, when we're home."

* * *

"Hello Rajesh."

"Hello Priya. I guess our parents told you?"

She nodded. "Yes, they told me. You're quite courageous telling them you are in a relationship with a woman that is not of Indian descent, although I understand she more or less introduced herself."

Raj nodded and smiled. "She did."

"I want to meet this woman."

Raj looked to the side and Melissa slid over to be in view. "Priya, this is my girlfriend Melissa. Melissa, this is my sister Priya."

"Nice to meet you, Priya."

Priya smiled and gave a nod. "Nice to meet you, too. Don't worry too much about my parents. Once they realize you make Rajesh happy, they will come around to liking you, I'm sure."

Raj frowned at the screen. "You seem to be rather accepting."

Priya shrugged. "You know my views are not like our parents. I genuinely want you to be happy. Now, from what our parents told me, they made certain threats?"

Raj sighed and rolled his eyes. "They did. Melissa didn't even know about our financial situation, until they brought it up."

Priya frowned. "Were they not telling you off in Hindi?"

Raj nodded. "Yes, but Melissa's aunt is from India as well, and Melissa could follow the conversation."

Priya smiled. "Well, good for her. I have to get ready for work. I just wanted to call you and make sure you were alright."

"Thanks, Priya. I am alright. We are alright. Do you think we can talk again this weekend? I really need someone to talk to about this whole thing with my parents."

Priya nodded. "Yes, of course. Are you available this Saturday, around the same time?"

Raj nodded. "Yes. Thank you, Priya."

* * *

Penny was lying on her back in their hotel room, Leonard's right arm draped across her belly. She could tell he was asleep, but she didn't seem to be able to. Today had been an emotional rollercoaster, especially for him. While the visit with his mother and sister had been a strain, it had been something he had been prepared for.

The visit with his father, on the other hand, had to have been hard on him. They'd looked at the pictures of his biological mother, and Penny had instantly seen Leonard in the young woman's features. Leonard really was the spitting image of his biological mother, with several details of his father mixed in.

Leonard had been mesmerized by the pictures, but mostly the DVD his father had found. Penny had seen many of the adorable mannerisms of Leonard reflected in the woman. Leonard had asked if he could make a copy of the DVD, so he could watch it whenever he felt like it.

But Penny knew Leonard had not taken the time yet to process all of this. She turned her head toward him and silently told him she was going to be there for him, no matter what. She frowned at the obvious strain on his face, even while asleep. He probably wasn't going to be sleeping peacefully tonight, his mind processing the news.

Today had been a very tiring day for him. When visiting with his father, Penny had mentioned they were planning on visiting Leonard's brother as well, and his father had informed them he wasn't in Cambridge, but was spending some time with his fiancé at her home.

Armed with the address and directions, Leonard had driven them there. Much to Penny's surprise, his brother and fiancé had been very welcoming and positive. At some point the conversation had steered toward the earlier visits, and Leonard revealed he had learned just a few hours ago that the woman who raised him, hadn't actually given birth to him.

It had been a tough afternoon, but ended up with a nice dinner at one of the local restaurants. Leonard had been exhausted by the end of the dinner, all the emotions of the day taking their toll on him. Once they had arrived at the hotel room and gotten ready for bed, Penny had just held him close to her, telling him how much she loved him and that she was there for him.

It hadn't taken him long to fall asleep, but Penny just wasn't tired yet. As she glanced at the phone, she noticed it was just before ten. No wonder she wasn't tired yet. When she turned back to look at him, she saw he was looking at her. "Did I wake you? I'm sorry."

"No, that's alright. I woke up before you grabbed your phone." He turned to lay on his back, and Penny moved to put her head on his chest. "I don't think I'm gonna have a good night's sleep. There's just too much going on in my head."

"I know. Well, I understand. I guess I don't really know." She let out a small sigh, unhappy with the words that came out of her mouth. "You know, I had planned to make a stop over at Omaha, but maybe you'd prefer if we just go home instead?"

"Hmm, no. I think staying with your family for a day or so might actually help me take my mind of it for a while."

* * *

Sheldon frowned to himself as he entered the physics department, suddenly realising he had just traveled by bus to go to work, instead of trying to get one of his friends to pick him up.

Of course it made more sense; with the exception of Howard, his friends would need to make a considerable detour just for his convenience. What had him frowning was the fact that the Sheldon of old would never have taken his friends' inconvenience into account, yet today he had simply taken the bus, knowing that Howard needed to be elsewhere for the morning. Instead of calling Rajesh, or Amy Farrah Fowler and demand either one of them to drive him to work.

Amy Farrah Fowler. The thought of her made his frown disappear, a smile threatening to form instead. As he had anticipated, she had appreciated the modifications, had even raised her concern regarding his motivation.

But he had thought these modifications through. He hadn't lied to her all those months ago when he told her he didn't rule out a more intimate relationship at some point. Dr. Green had only pointed out that something would need to change if he ever was going to get there.

He had understood her reasoning behind the changes in the agreement having to be positive to both parties; anything else was not going to help him in advancing the relationship. And Sam had taught him a great deal about social settings, including dating, that would allow him to grow. He was surprised to find he was actually looking forward to this change.

"Good morning, Dr. Cooper."

"Oh, hello Alex." He glanced at his watch. "You are here early."

She looked back up at him. "Oh, yeah. I figured I could work a little on my dissertation, before work."

He nodded. "I see." He frowned. "How is your research going?" He could see the slight surprise in her eyes at his show of interest.

"It's going pretty well."

He nodded. "Let me know if you run into an obstacle, or need someone to spar with."

"Uhm, okay." She closed her laptop. "I guess I should go over last night's recordings."

Sheldon gave a dismissive wave, deciding he might as well apply one more piece of advice Dr. Green had given him. "I've decided to end that experiment." He opened a document on his computer and sent it to Alex. "I have sent you a file with a number of things you could look into for me."

He glanced at her and saw shock as she read the document. No surprise, really, considering this was the first real research task he was giving her. "Just get me the answers when you can."

* * *

Leonard turned to Penny. They were waiting at the gate for their flight to Nebraska. "I'm sorry."

She smiled. "Yeah, so am I."

It was all that needed to be said, and Leonard put his arm around her, pulling her close to him. It had been a silly thing to fight over, really. When they returned the rental they were both holding out their credit card. She had argued it was her idea in the first place, he had argued that she had already paid the flights and the hotel room.

"I just wanted to do this for you, you know. Kinda like paying you back for all the things you've done for me over the last six plus years."

He looked at her again. He hadn't thought of that, but it did make sense. Of course she would buy things for him, now that she earned a very handsome living. And she wasn't exactly wasting it, either; he knew most of the money was placed in an account of her own company, a construct put in place by her representation firm. "I guess I should allow that, though I really haven't been keeping tabs on how often I paid for something. And I know you're not wasting it or spending money like crazy."

"Of course not. I'm not an idiot. I want to make sure I still have some money, in case they don't want me back."

He laughed. "You're kidding, right? Did you not watch Letterman last night? Your character is very popular so I'm pretty sure they'll ask you for the next season. But even if they don't, chances are good you'll be asked to do other things."

"Hmm. We'll see."

Leonard frowned slightly. Was she still doubting her acting skills? He hadn't seen these doubts in few months. Actually, the last time was after the play that got her the audition that lead to her current role. Or was she just not trying to get her hopes up?

They both looked at her purse at the sound of her phone ringing. Not her business phone, but her private one. Penny dug it out of the purse and answered it. "Hi Aimes."

Leonard watched her with a smile, but frowned as she did.

"Wait, Sheldon did what?"

Leonard winced slightly as Penny hit his arm, a clear indication something was both surprising and exciting.

"Holy crap on a cracker! Oh, Aimes, I'm so happy for you!"

Leonard discreetly moved his arm away, but Penny was focusing on her conversation with Amy, leaving Leonard to contemplate what his friend had done that would excite the two women that much.

"No, Leonard and I are going to Omaha first to visit with my family. We'll return probably on Saturday." There was a brief pause as Penny listened to her friend. "Alright, we'll see you guys then. So, you two have fun on your date, and don't do anything I would do." She grinned and nodded. "Bye Aimes."

Leonard frowned. "Date? This is the second Thursday of the month."

Penny beamed at him. "I know, right? Apparently Sheldon has made some changes to the relationship agreement. Date night is now every other week..."

"Wow, he increased the number of date nights?"

Penny nodded. "Yeah, but get this. Every first weekend of the month, Amy will be staying at the apartment, sleeping in your old room! Isn't that amazing?!"

Leonard knew his mouth was hanging open. "Wow, that is huge." He stared out the window. "Our Sheldon is really growing up."


	11. The Family Revelation

"I'm glad you stuck with it."

Leonard looked up at Wyatt, a grin on his face. "So am I." They were both walking around the property, Wyatt needing to check for possible breaches in the fences surrounding his property.

"I haven't seen her this happy or relaxed in a long time," Wyatt continued. "I know that part of it might be her sudden career boost, but I can tell by the way she looks at you, you are the primary reason for her relaxed attitude."

Leonard looked down, not sure how to respond.

"Her mom and I have talked to her a few times when you were at the North Sea. We could tell it was hard on her, not having you around for that long."

"It wasn't any easier on me, I can tell you. I have no intention of ever doing something like that again."

Wyatt gave an approving nod. "Good. So, what's going on?"

Leonard frowned. "What do you mean?"

Wyatt sat down against a large tree and motioned for Leonard to do the same. "Maybe it's none of my business, but I could tell you're a little stressed out. Penny's constantly hovering around you, clearly trying to do anything to make you feel comfortable. I'm guessing something is going on that has you all wound up."

Leonard sighed. "I just got some news regarding my family, and I don't know what to do with that."

Wyatt nodded. "If you need to talk, I'll listen and give you whatever advice I can. It might help."

Leonard looked at Wyatt. It took him only a few seconds to decide. "While we visited with my father, he explained that he had an affair before. About thirty four years earlier."

Wyatt raised his eyebrows, but remained silent.

"Mother is not my biological mother, my biological mother died just hours after I was born, and Mother, though offering to raise me, saw me as a mistake, a burden."

Leonard looked back up as Wyatt put his hand on his shoulder. "I see."

"The thing is, I'm not sure what I'm suppose to feel right now. Father allowed Mother to treat my like dirt, so should I be angry at him for that? Should I be angry at Mother for punishing me for something I had no control over? Should I be sad I never knew my real mother? Actually, that last one I already have the answer to. I am sad about that."

"Well, son, that's a tough one. I doubt you'll be able to work out your feelings in just a few days."

Leonard sighed. "Yeah, I guess. Penny's been a great support in all of this, though. She keeps me grounded."

"So, what do you know about your biological mother?"

Leonard shrugged. "She was one of Father's students. I've seen pictures and Father had even a home video transferred to DVD."

"Well, son, sounds to me like you know next to nothing about her. My advice is, try to find out whatever you can about her, her family and background. Work out your feelings towards your father and the woman who raised you later."

* * *

Penny was sitting on the porch, looking across the field to where she thought Leonard was walking with her father. She knew why her father had suggested it; both her parents had noticed Leonard's stress and daddy just wanted to know what was going on. It might even help Leonard to talk about it with someone else, she thought. She just wasn't sure if Leonard would want to, though he did agree to accompany daddy on a, what Penny suspected to be, totally unnecessary inspection.

"Penny, sweetie, what's going on with the two of you?"

Penny smiled, but didn't look up. She had anticipated her mom would try to get her to open up. "It's kinda personal, mom. Leonard got some news a few days ago that kinda hit him hard, and now he's struggling to come to terms with it."

Her mom sat down next to her. "We more or less figured out it wasn't a relationship issue. I mean, as stressed as Leonard was, he wasn't angry at you, he appreciated every little thing you did to try and make him feel better. You're really there for him, and he appreciates it."

Penny turned to look at her mother. "He's done the same for me so many times, even when we weren't dating. I would be a really bad girlfriend if I wouldn't be there for him when he needs my support."

"I know. That's why we knew your relationship was still strong."

Penny smiled, playing with the heartshaped locked around her neck. "It really is. Stronger than ever. I've never felt so relaxed in my life as I have since moving in together."

Her mom chuckled. "Well, that's pretty obvious. I'm glad you're attributing that to being with Leonard, and not your recent career change."

Penny frowned. "Yeah, it really is Leonard who does that for me. He grounds me. Don't get me wrong, I love that I can be an actress full time, but it's really not what is most important to me. He is, being with him is what's the most important to me."

"So, when are you going to propose?"

Penny wasn't surprised at the question; she had told her parents Leonard and her had come to this agreement. Instead she smiled. "I kinda hope he'll propose. I mean, as you know, he and I have this agreement that I would do it whenever I feel ready, but I really want him to ask me."

"Shouldn't you tell _him_ that?"

Penny giggled. "I guess I should or we'll be waiting on each other forever."

Her mom placed her hand on her arm, looking serious. "If he proposes, let's say next week, what would your answer be?"

Penny smiled. "Yes." She then frowned at the lack of hesitancy or the usual fear that she had come to associate with anything involving marriage.

Her mom chuckled. "You definitely need to let him know. You know, dropping hints. He's a genius so I'm sure he'll pick up on it quickly."

Of that, Penny wasn't so sure. Leonard wasn't one to pick-up on subtle hints quickly.

* * *

Melissa entered Raj's apartment quietly, just in case he had fallen asleep. He had left a light on, but she could tell he was in the bedroom. She quietly stripped out of her uniform, dumping it just outside his bedroom. She then turned off the light, and walked into his bedroom as quietly as she could.

It wasn't until she stepped into bed that Raj did wake up. "Hi sexy," she whispered. "Go back to sleep."

"How was your shift?"

She smiled, touched that despite being woken up, his first instinct was to ask how she was. "Busy." She kissed him. "Now, go to sleep. We'll talk in the morning." She lay down, scooting closer to him so they could spoon and he could drape his arm around her. "I love you."

"Love you, too."

It wasn't long before Raj had fallen asleep again, and Melissa held his hand in hers, pulling it closer to her body. Though she had had a long day, she wasn't sleepy yet. Instead, her mind went over the day's activities.

This morning had been the first day of Eric's trial. Raj had been there with her for support. She had been called as a witness, as had Jennifer. That part of the day had been stressful. She didn't want to be in the same room as Eric. He had grinned and nodded as she had been called, seemingly confident she wouldn't tell everyone all the things he had done to her.

Seeing his arrogance, Melissa had raised her head and looked directly at him, determined to tell everybody present just what an asshole he was. His look hadn't scared her, it had given her confidence. She had spoked clearly, an act that had greatly surprised Eric.

But she was glad she wasn't needed for the remainder of the trial. She still didn't want to be in the same room as him, so Raj and her had left as soon as it was clear her part was done. To relax, they had eaten lunch at a cute little place and then taken a stroll through the park. She smiled as she remembered the make out session on the park bench.

By the time they got back to her apartment, she had needed to hurry changing into her uniform, if she was going to make it on time for the late shift, even though Dan had told her not to worry if she was going to be a little late.

The shift at the restaurant had been brutal; not a single seat had been available and she hadn't been able to rest for any longer than a few minutes, just long enough for a bathroom break, but not long enough to actually rest a little.

She hoped that her shift tomorrow night would be a lighter than today's. She knew it would give Raj and his sister some privacy, so they could talk, what Melissa was certain to be, about her. Not that she minded. Raj probably needed someone to talk to that could understand the situation better.

* * *

Bernadette woke up to the smell of pancakes. She glanced at the clock and noticed it was well past nine, which meant she had been sleeping for almost twelve hours straight. First order of business was to relieve herself, and she quickly hopped out of bed.

A few minutes later she walked into the kitchen to see Howard flipping another pancake. She walked on over and hugged him from behind. "Hmm, smells good."

He turned around and they kissed. "Yeah, well, they're almost done. Did you sleep well?"

Bernadette nodded. "Mm-hmm. I can't believe I slept for twelve hours straight, though."

He frowned, before turning back to the stove. "You probably needed it. You've had some pretty stressful weeks at work."

Bernadette agreed with him silently. The last two and half weeks had been extremely stressful for her. Someone had made a mistake which could have far reaching consequences. Bernadette had been tasked to retrace the work from the other team and try to figure out where the mistake was made exactly, to prevent it from happening again in the future.

Of course the other team had been none too thrilled about having her meddling around, and had been far from cooperative, which had initiated her becoming stressed. In the end it had turned out the team hadn't done anything wrong, per se. They had followed all protocols to the letter, and for any other project that would've been just fine. The issue had been the protocols themselves. They'd been adequate for the usual projects so far, but for this particular project they weren't.

Luckily, that meant the stressful weeks were now over. The only thing left for her to do was to write the final report and suggest some additional protocols to prevent similar issues if other projects of this kind would be undertaken.

"You okay, Bernie?"

She smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah, just thinking about my crappy weeks and how amazingly supportive you've been."

He shrugged, letting the pancake slide on top of the stack that was ready. "It's nothing, really. I've really started to enjoy cooking, and the cleaning and stuff isn't too bad. I just saw what work was doing to you and figured you probably didn't need to deal with all that stuff here."

She nodded as she sat down at the breakfast bar. "You're right. I probably would've gone insane. I really appreciate all of this."

He placed the stack in between them before sitting down beside her. "You don't have to thank me, honey. We're on the same team here, we have to help each other out. And I really haven't done that until all this stuff started. So really, I should apologize for not helping you sooner."

She shook her head. "No, that's alright. I know you never had to do anything when you were still living with your mom. I'm just glad you picked this time to step up."

He kissed her. "Just so you know, I'm not gonna stop helping you now that things are going back to normal. I'll do my fair share, I promise."

* * *

Penny kissed him passionately, still panting. "That's another one to go on your list." She winked at him when he looked confused at first. He then started to grin.

"Oh, _that_ list. I can honestly say that every single thing on there has been with you."

Penny giggled. "I guess I will have to think about what other places we can have sex in." She placed her head on his chest, listening to his heart beating. Still rapidly, but slowly getting back to its regular rhythm. A rhythm already stored in her memory, always able to calm her down, sooth her, and allow her to fall asleep.

"I talked with Wyatt about the news we'd gotten back in Camden."

Penny smiled, having guessed her daddy would've at least tried, and happy to find Leonard had opened up to him. "Did it help?"

"Maybe a little. He suggested I should focus on finding out who my birth mother was, what she was like, and not focus too much on my feelings for Mother and Father about this whole thing, at least not until I know more about her. It kinda makes sense, but I really have no idea where to start. I guess I should ask Father for at least a name."

"Already got that for you, sweetie. I talked to your father when you went to bathroom and wrote down some information. It's not much, but I figured it would be a good start for when you decided to look into it." She smiled when she felt his arms tighten around her.

"You're amazing. Beautiful, sexy, funny, supportive, and smart. Thank you so much for being there for me."

She hugged him tighter in response. "You don't have to thank me, Honey." They remained locked in each other's embrace for a little before Penny cleared her throat. "I think we better get dressed before anyone decides to come in."

Leonard chuckled, and released her. "Yeah, that would be bad. Though I don't see what reason they'd have to come in here. There's nothing in here but these haystacks."

Penny sat up straight, grabbing her bra and panties that had been thrown to the side. "We had a reason, didn't we?"

Leonard fished around with his hand trying to locate some of his clothing but coming up with Penny's shirt instead, unable to locate his own clothing.

Penny smirked down at him, laying helplessly with her sitting on top of him. "Looking for something, Leonard?"

"Yeah, my boxers."

* * *

"You seem surprised."

" _I know I suggested you make some changes, but you made more and bigger changes than I expected, darling._ "

Sheldon shrugged. "I suppose I did change a bit more than anyone anticipated. And that includes myself. When I was listing the possibilities to take the relationship to the next level, weighing the pros and cons, I feared the increased frequency of date nights would be insufficient on its own."

" _Perhaps, but considering where you came from it would have been a great step forward. I am sure Amy would have been very happy if that was the only change. And the suggestion of having her stay at your apartment every first weekend of the month, that is amazing Sheldon. I am proud of you, darling, for taking that step._ "

Sheldon smiled, which he seemed to be doing more often these days. "I know it made Amy Farrah Fowler very happy. She has asked me to thank you on her behalf, as she wasn't sure whether you would approve of having her connect with you though Skype on her own."

" _Of course I would approve!_ "

Sheldon nodded and typed a quick message. "Alright, this is her Skype username. I'm sure she'd be delighted to talk to you."

" _Thank you, darling. I'll connect with her later. What else has been going on?_ "

Sheldon sat back, feeling oddly comfortable and relaxed. "Well, the other day I ended the 'Sheldon after dark' experiment, and asked my assistant Alex to do some research for me. As you can imagine, she was very surprised at this sudden change, but I think she appreciated it."

" _Oh, I'm sure she does. Like I told you before I left, Alex isn't there to do your personal or menial tasks. She's there to further her study and complete her thesis. She chose you because she expected to learn a great deal from you. It's your duty to help her accomplish her goals._ "

Sheldon nodded. Sam had pointed out that he had needed a research position himself for his thesis and asked him to think about how much more difficult it would have been if his advisor had asked him to such menial tasks, instead of letting him apply his scientific mind on research. "You are right, of course. And I know she's intelligent enough to succeed in the tasks I have given her. I have also informed her she could discuss her research for her thesis with me."

Sam nodded back. " _Good. You're doing a very good job, darling._ "

* * *

Leonard stayed back a little, as various photographers tried to snap pictures of Penny. Despite the sunglasses, the baseball cap and sweats, people already recognized her, wherever she went. He hoped she realized just how popular she was becoming, even though only four episodes with her in it had been aired so far, and just a few days ago, the interview on Letterman.

Penny had been instructed on how to handle such a situation in the best possible way, and even though she had laughed at the suggestion this might happen, she had paid attention. She let herself be photographed, as they made their way to the exit. Leonard had used his cell to call Penny's agent who had anticipated this and had someone waiting for her to take her away, promising to drop her off at home.

His second call had been to Howard, letting him and Bernadette know what was going on, and to basically ignore Penny, or risk ending up in the tabloids. He now watched Penny exit the airport as he walked over to Howard and Bernadette.

"Wow, she's really famous now, isn't she?"

Leonard grinned at his friends. "She really is!" He returned Bernadette's hug. "Okay, let's go home. She'll meet us there." The three of them walked towards Bernadette's car and Leonard loaded the suitcases.

As they drove away, Leonard called Penny's private cell. "Hey, just making sure you're alright." He listened to her. "Good. I'll see you at home. I love you." He grinned at her reply, said a final goodbye and hung up. "Thanks for picking us up. Well, me."

"Sure, no problem, Leonard," Bernadette replied.

"And sorry for staying in Omaha for a little longer." Even though they had only intended to stay one night at her parents farm, returning again on Friday, they had postponed their return until Sunday, which had allowed Leonard to come to terms with the news he had gotten earlier that week. Of course, a lot of questions still needed to be answered, but at least he wasn't as stressed about it anymore.

They had decided to tell their friends once they were all together, and Leonard couldn't even bring it up now anyway, not without Penny there. Instead, they talked about his presentation, Penny's interview, and how well the show was going. Howard handed him a glossy showing a picture of Penny as her character on the show, complete with glasses slid slightly down her nose, with the caption 'Sexiest nerd' in a large type, a description he wholeheartedly agreed with. Being in the car didn't allow him to read, but he was sure to read the article inside later.

They arrived in just under thirty minutes. Howard helped him unload the suitcases and carried one to the apartment. Leonard was surprised to see Penny waiting in the lobby, a stack of mail in her hand.

Penny immediately went over to hug Bernadette. "So sorry I had to ignore you guys at the airport, but if I hadn't, you'd be in the tabloids in no time."

"That's alright, Penny," Bernadette replied, as she let go and Penny gave a quick hug to Howard.

* * *

Melissa bit her lip, unsure of what to do. Leonard's news had quite some details in common with what she had been told about her aunt, who had passed away before Melissa had been born. Could it really be? Was she related to Leonard?

"What are you going to do now," Howard asked.

Leonard shrugged. "First find out more about my biological mother. Penny wrote down some information Father had, so that would be my starting point."

"Do you have a last name," Melissa asked, figuring that if the name matched, she might as well tell them now, instead of letting them find it out through research. She closed her eyes when Penny answered with her mother's maiden name. "She was my aunt."

"What?!" Leonard moved to the front of his seat.

Melissa nodded. "My mother told me she had an older sister who had been in a relationship with her professor, gotten pregnant and died shortly after giving birth. I, of course, never met her. I mean, my mom was only fourteen when this all happened, so I wasn't even born yet."

"Wait, you and Leonard are cousins?"

Melissa turned to Raj, who seemed oddly happy about this development. "Yeah." She turned back to Leonard. "If you want, I could ask my mom if she'd be willing to talk with you about your biological mother?"

Leonard nodded. "Yeah, that'd be great."

* * *

Sitting on the couch, Penny held Leonard close to her, as they watched some TV. Well, she watched some TV as Leonard had fallen asleep. She glanced at him briefly, his mouth slightly open and his head resting against her shoulder. Earlier, the two of them had talked about Melissa's revelation, and the unexpected luck of finding a source of information regarding Leonard's biological mother so quickly.

Leonard had confessed that though he was looking forward to it, he also felt some apprehension. While he understood why Melissa's mother couldn't offer to take care of him, none of them had offered or even attempted to find out more about him, as if they just weren't interested in him. Even Melissa's mother hadn't seemed interested to find out more, once she was old enough to do so.

Penny's business phone buzzed and she picked it up when she saw it was her agent. After softly answering, she listened to her agent's news. "Really?!" She glanced at Leonard apologetically when he woke up at her excited reply. "Oh my god, that's great!" She listened again and nodded. "Yeah, sure." Again she nodded. "Okay, thank you for calling me. Bye." She hung up the phone and hugged Leonard close.

"Good news," he asked with a grin.

Penny nodded smiling broadly. "Uh huh. I'll be on eight of the final ten episodes and I'll get a starring credit for the next season!"

"You're kidding! Wow, that's great! See, I told you they'd ask you back for more."

Penny smiled. "Yeah, you did. I guess I just didn't want to get my hopes up in case they decided not to." She hugged him again. "I have to come in tomorrow to sign a new contract." They sat like that for a few minutes before Leonard turned to her.

"I don't know about you, but I feel like going to bed."

Penny smirked. "For a celebration?"

Leonard chuckled. "Normally, I'd say yes, but I'm really tired."

Penny nodded. "Okay, I guess I can understand that." She got up after him, turning of the TV as she did so. "You don't mind if I join you, do you?"

Leonard raised his eyebrows. "No, of course not. But I am a little surprised."

Penny shrugged. "I just like being close to you. Besides, if I go to bed early, I'm probably gonna be awake early." She smirked again. "We'll just have an early morning celebration."

* * *

Leonard was waiting nervously in their living room for Melissa and her mom to arrive. Penny sat right beside him, holding his hand in an attempt to calm him down, and Leonard supposed it might be working; he probably would've been a wreck by now if she wasn't here.

Yesterday had been a busy day for Penny. She had gone to sign a new contract and she had to go to court to testify against Eric. Leonard had gone with her for moral support, though she had claimed she didn't need it, but appreciated and accepted his offer nonetheless. Right after getting out of court, Melissa had called to inform him her mom was going to be in Pasadena today and would want to meet up with him.

Leonard hadn't even pretended not to need the moral support Penny had offered. He just needed her to be there, help him keep his nerves in check. He turned to her when he felt her squeeze his hand at the knock on the door.

Penny stood up and opened the door to allow Melissa and her mother inside. Melissa made the introductions and everyone sat down again.

"Wow, you look so much like her."

Leonard smiled nervously again, his hand having found Penny's almost immediately after sitting down. "Father showed us some pictures," he said after another reassuring squeeze from Penny's hand. "Penny said the same thing."

Melissa's mother, who had insisted they address her as 'Beth,' nodded and smiled. "Well, you really do. I never thought I would get to meet my nephew," she said, still smiling. "I always wanted to, but I just couldn't afford a private investigator to find out more. I never even knew who Stephanie had been dating."

Leonard nodded, relieved to find out someone had wanted to learn about him, and feeling guilty for his earlier thoughts about his aunt not showing any interest. It just hadn't occurred to him that there might have been a financial aspect to the equation. "So, I guess you have some questions as well?"

Beth nodded. "Yes, but I'll answer any questions you have first."

Leonard shrugged. "I guess I just want to know more about her, what she was like."

Beth smiled a sad smile. "She was the best big sister to me. Don't get me wrong, we've had some arguments when growing up, but mostly we got along great, despite the five year age gap. She was really smart and funny. Very open and kind. She got a scholarship and moved to New Jersey to study anthropology when she was seventeen."

"Father is an anthropology professor," Leonard said, knowing it would give Beth some information she was still looking for.

She nodded. "Ah, I guess that's one mystery solved. Anyway, when my family found out she had gotten a scholarship, she was shunned. At the age of twelve, when this happened, I didn't really understand it, just that I wasn't supposed to talk to her, even if she called."

Leonard frowned. "Why?"

Beth shrugged. "In my family, women weren't supposed to become too knowledgeable. I barely got to finish and graduate high school. Women have their place in life, and apparently we don't need proper education. I didn't share that belief, which is why Melissa has never been around her grandparents or other family members from my side of the family. Basically I got shunned as well." Beth sipped her coffee. "What else can I tell you about Stephanie? She was short, shorter than I am."

Leonard nodded, having deduced that from the pictures and DVD his father had shown.

"She was lactose intolerant."

Leonard smiled sadly. "I always wondered why I was the only one in our family. When Father told me the news, I more or less assumed your sister was lactose intolerant."

She smiled. "Let me think. It's been so long, and the last time I saw her or talked to her I was only twelve."

Leonard turned to her. "Father had a home video transferred to DVD. Would you like to see it?"

Beth nodded. "Yes, that would be great."

Leonard moved to the DVD player and popped the disc in, before returning to his seat, hitting the play button on the remote.

* * *

Melissa reluctantly moved of Raj's lap as his laptop played the incoming Skype call melody.

Raj groaned as he looked at the screen. "It's my parents." He hit the answer button. "Hello Mommy, Daddy."

Melissa remained seated right next to Raj, in view of his webcam. "Hello Dr. and Mrs. Koothrappali."

"Rajesh, we need to speak. Privately."

"Why? So you can insult my girlfriend again? I don't want to keep any secrets from her."

His father began talking in Hindi again. Raj tried to interrupt him several times, but his father continued.

"I didn't know about your financial wealth until you threatened Raj to withdraw your financial support," Melissa answered purposefully in Hindi, deciding that his parents should know she could follow the conversation just fine. And she really didn't like Raj's father's insinuation.

Both his parents sat there looking at her in shock. Raj's mother was the first to respond. "You understand Hindi?"

Melissa nodded and smiled. "My aunt was Indian. She's been teaching me since I was about six. I still have some trouble speaking the language, but I can understand pretty much anything."

Raj exhaled loudly. "Listen, Mommy, Daddy. I love you, I really do. But I also love Melissa, and nothing you do or say is going to change my feelings for her."

"And I have never asked him for anything," Melissa added, in an attempt to reassure his parents she wasn't in this relationship for the money. "The most expensive thing he's bought me was dinner on our first date."

"Mommy, Daddy, I know you're just trying to lookout for me and I appreciate that. I guess you were right to do so with Emily, but really, Melissa has never asked for anything, not even after she found out I came from a wealthy family. Don't make her suffer because of that one girl."

"I suppose that is rather unfair," Raj's mother conceded. "Perhaps we should try to get to know each other first."

* * *

Penny pressed her back against Leonard's chest, grabbing his hand as his arm wrapped itself around her. She let out a sigh of contentment as she felt him kiss her shoulder. "I love you." She giggled when she realized Leonard said the same words at the exact same time.

"I really appreciate you being there for me this past week."

Despite being very comfortable, she turned to lay on her back. "Oh, Honey, of course I was there for you. I will _always_ be there for you, for as long as you want me and need me. Just like you've always been there for me, and I know you'll always will be."

He kissed her. "I will."

She smiled as she looked at him. She could almost hear the gears of his mind turning, trying to figure out if she had meant what he thought, hoped she meant. Trying to make him understand she indeed meant that she was ready for the next step, she kept her gaze on him, willing him to make the connection and accept it for what it was: a signal that she was ready for him to propose.

The slight frown on his features disappeared and he smiled back at her, seemingly to have come to the right conclusion. "Good," Penny finally answered, the smile still present. Her hand moved to caress his face. "So, how are you doing. You know, with the parents stuff."

He let out a sigh. "I'm not sure, yet. I mean, it was great talking to Beth, getting to know my real mother a little better. But it didn't really change anything for me. I was still raised as part of an experiment Mother conducted, simply because I wasn't her real son. Both Father and Mother kept this from me, even once I was old enough to understand."

Leonard had rolled on to his back, and Penny had turned to lay with her head on his chest, her hand caressing him.

"I guess I'm still mad at them," he continued, wrapping his arm around her. "But at least I know why Beth never tracked me down. I'm not mad at her, but the rest of that family didn't sound like a family I would've liked. Maybe I should be glad they didn't show any interest in me."

Penny silently agreed. She was certain if he had been raised by that family, he would've been taught that women were basically worthless, which would have meant their relationship would've never worked. "That stuff with your parents, that'll just take time. Just remember you have me and our friends to talk to if you need to. Or your new aunt, Beth."

He hugged her tightly. "I just need you."

* * *

Melissa was drawing patterns on Raj's chest, both still panting a little from their recent activity. "Raj?"

He turned his head toward her. "Yeah?"

"I know I probably should've told you when I came home, but today was the verdict for Eric's trial."

He smiled at her. "Considering your attack of me, I'm guessing he was found guilty?"

Melissa giggled. "Yeah, I guess I wouldn't have been in the mood if they'd set him free." She planted a kiss on his chest. "Anyway, he's going to be locked up for sixteen years."

"That's good news, isn't it?"

Melissa nodded. "Yeah. It's just that, well, remember what your father implied about me, when he called yesterday." She didn't need to look up at him to know he was frowning.

"You know I don't think that."

"Raj, please let me say what I have to say. I dated Eric because he had money and bought me things. I knew he was married, but dated him anyway because he made sure I had whatever I needed. And he wasn't the first. But you have to know that I'm done with that. I don't want a man because he can buy me presents or put a roof over my head. I want a man who loves me, who I love in return."

She sighed, as tears began to fall. "I just made some bad choices in the past, thinking I could be happy with men like Eric. But it never worked out like that. I was never happy, I let myself get abused, just so I didn't have to work."

"Melissa, I don't care about your past. I only care about who you are now. I know you didn't date me because of the money, because you didn't even know. Even after you found out, you never asked me for anything."

"But your father's comment..."

"... was totally out of line and wrong. Please, look at me."

Melissa wiped the tears from her eyes to do as he asked.

"I love you. You are not a bad person. Yes, you may have made mistakes in the past, but really, who hasn't made mistakes. I'm glad you told me, but it doesn't change anything between us, as far as I'm concerned."

Melissa let out a sob. "Really?"

He nodded. "Really. I love you."

She hugged him tight. "And I love you. I really do, Raj." She placed her head back on his chest, maintaining her hold on him, still afraid he would leave. Instead, his arms tightened around her, reassuring her slightly. She had dreaded telling him, but felt that if she didn't and he found out on his own, it would've been far worse.

But it turned out her worry had been for nothing. He had assured her he didn't mind her past mistakes, and was only interested in who she was now. But she knew that at some point, they would need to talk about her past. But not right now. Right now, she just wanted to sleep in his arms.


End file.
